A Chance at Life
by Lina03
Summary: Harry Potter meets an 8-year old vampire Severus Snape...this is their story. Alternate Reality, Time Travel, Slash & Het pairings, eventual future SS/HP slash, but NO chan!
1. Chapters 1 to 5

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Harry Potter; None of the original story and/or characters are mine in any way nor do I make any money from these writings.

**Warnings**: This story will contain both het and Slash parings in the future. It's also a vampire, time travel, and AU story.

**Note**: Numbers in parenthesis are numbered footnotes you will find at the end of the chapter; also, suggestions & tips to help me improve are always welcome, in any of my stories. =)

**A Chance at Life**

_Prologue_

Eight-year-old Severus Snape was tired…so tired of always hurting...always worrying. For once, he wanted to fall asleep without aching somewhere. He wanted to wake up without worrying about his mother or dreading another day in which he would be hurt and hated. Severus just wanted to be happy, maybe even have a friend.

But most of all he wanted someone that would love him, someone that could fight for him and _would_ fight for him.

On this cold January morning, like many other such mornings, he dreamed of such a person. Even though deep down his inherent rationality kept his expectations rooted in reality, hope was the only thing he had left to cling to.

But what Severus did not know was that at that exact moment an event was taking place that would soon change his life, and the very fabric of time, forever…

**Chapter 1**: Sometimes, Hope is All it Takes

Harry Potter woke up feeling very disoriented and with a pounding headache. He sat up slowly, took a look around, and realized he was nowhere near Kansas anymore (1)…

It was either very early or very late; he wasn't sure if he was looking at a sunrise or a sunset. Not to mention that he wasn't completely sure he knew where he was. It seemed to be the small park at Spinner's End, but something about it didn't quite fit with how he remembered it. He had absolutely no idea how had he gotten there or why. A few seconds later, he stood up and looked himself over.

He was wearing a dark-green shirt, black trousers and boots below a black robe and his full length cloak. He still had his choker (a black, thin band made to magically adjust to the wearer) which he used to carry his miniaturized trunk, but his wand was nowhere in sight.

"Damn," he cursed softly, not detecting anything dangerous nearby. He summoned Gryffindor's sword as a precaution and focused on the situation. First, he decided to verify he was where he thought he was and walked around the surrounding area warily until he came upon a copy of the _Daily Prophet_, which was really strange since the _Prophet_ had been out of circulation for over a year now. Curious, he picked it up…it was dated January 6, 1968.

He forced the surprise away and tried to make sense of the situation. He clearly remembered slipping away from the battlefield and going to his hideout to take care of his wounds, taking a shower and going to sleep. Now here he was at Spinner's End park in the same clothes and accessories he had gone to bed with (with the exception of his wand) and apparently _somehow_ in the year 1968. He was beyond confused, but since he could find no trace of either Voldemort or his Death Eaters, he settled on managing things as they come up. He was only glad paranoia still made him sleep prepared or this could have turned out a hundred times worse. Moody would have been so proud.

"I might as well confirm the date," he whispered to himself. He banished the sword and started walking towards the little magical town's commerce center (2). Now that he'd had a little time to get his bearings, he figured it should be around 8 o'clock in the morning so a newspaper stand should be open or will be open soon.

He acquired the newspaper and had some breakfast at a nearby café. Still, the only important fact he learned reading the _Prophet_ was that the date was actually January 9th but there were no articles of interest. So he set off for the park once again, needing to think…

The park was deserted and as he sat on a bench by the pond in the middle of the park, the silence and crisp morning air helping him to relax and think about the situation he found himself in.

He had gone to bed thinking that he had finally fulfilled the prophesy and would be able to 'die off' to the rest of the wizarding world. Everything had been planned for his 'death,' even going so far as to leave a will in case things turned for the worse. He knew he had to be AKed by Voldemort in order to destroy the last horcrux, and given his _unique_ c_ondition_ he had a 50 percent chance of making it out alive.

He remembered back to his 4th year when everything had started. He had felt so alone and abandoned by his friends and then suddenly he was in constant pain, his bones and muscles aching sporadically, for no reason at all. It had been the one and only time he had gone to Madam Pomfrey on his own initiative. It had been a horrible beginning to his 4th year and the pain continued until the end of the year, Madam Pomfrey could do nothing to help him. In the end, Madam Pomfrey and Snape had joined forces trying to find out what was wrong with him.

As it turned out, the Basilisk back at the end of his second year had bitten deep, injecting a substantial amount of venom into his bone marrow. Fawkes' tears had only been able to neutralize the venom, not destroy it. As a result, the venom and phoenix tears had spread and bonded with his bone marrow during his third year. The reason for his pain during fourth year came about as a manifestation of physical changes taking place in response to the biological and magical alterations happening to his body.

Through a barrage of tests and experiments in the next couple of years they were able to figure out that the Basilisk venom provided Harry with an immunity to poison and slowed down his body's aging process, thus as Harry grew his body's aging process will reach a point of stasis until his body was able start to age normally once again. They had no idea how long he would be stuck on that indeterminate stage however, only that he would stop aging somewhere between his 16th-18th birthday. Snape theorized it could last anywhere from 600-800 years, depending how long it took for the magical properties in the venom and/or phoenix tears to deteriorate within his body. No one could be sure how the killing curse would interact with these anomalies and, if he survived Voldemort, what state his body would be left in.

The phoenix tears produced their own alterations as well. Harry became more receptive to the magical world around him and to the magic within himself. Though he had always had good instincts they became increasingly accurate, to the point that Harry developed a clairvoyance of sorts, getting short visions of past or future events in certain circumstances, or if he concentrated hard enough. This ability became invaluable while on the run with Ron and Hermione, allowing them to remain a step ahead of the Death Eaters with a bit more ease. His only regret was that he had not been able to understand his ability in enough time to prevent Sirius' death.

Harry himself changed, from a naïve young boy to a more insightful individual. He took on a tendency to mask his emotions in public and a bit of a sarcastic or aloof manner to anyone he didn't trust (which he blamed on Snape's influence). Though he remained eternally optimistic about the goodness in people in general he remained cognizant of the fact that as a whole, magical people will still look for solutions to their problems in those they considered powerful, case in point, Dumbledore, Harry, and obviously Voldemort. The only variant was who they decided to follow and Harry was tired of it all. He just wanted to be left alone, to be allowed to have a life of his own without having the _Prophet_ reporting if he was a parselmouth, if he liked to eat sausages for breakfast, or if he had picked his nose in his last public appearance. Once he had fulfilled his duty to the wizarding world 'dying' gave him the perfect way out and those he cared about understood his decision well enough not to contest it.

Now, instead of a well deserved seclusion, he was once again up to his neck in trouble and this time he didn't even know how it came to be that way. So, he sat on his park bench and tried to come up with a plan of action. His instincts were telling him that there was nothing he could do to change what had happened and that whatever or whoever made this happen had not done so wishing him harm. The only thing he could do now was to try to live as peacefully as possible and try to keep out of too much trouble, and so he sat there and planned…

HPSSHPSSHPSS

Sunset had long since passed and he was more or less confidant that he would be able to make due; which is why he was now happy to contemplate the reflection of a beautiful overcast moon on the black pond in front of him for a moment. It reminded Harry of many a moonlit walk he had taken with Marcus. He'd always liked cloudy moons. Soon after, he drank down one of the nutrition potions he kept in his trunk and stood up to apparate to the Leaky Cauldron for the night when Harry detected a presence rushing towards him and instinctively reached for his wand (which he didn't have) and braced himself just in time for a small, dark figure to knock him off his feet. It all happened too fast for him to do anything but try and keep the thing's fangs away from his face and curse himself silently for not summoning his sword instead. Both of them rolled around the edge of the pond for some seconds until Harry unexpectedly got a glimpse of his attacker.

He was so shocked by what he was seeing that he got distracted and his attacker took the chance to bite down firmly on Harry's right wrist (which was facing outwards); his radial artery in perfect position for the assailant to bite into with long upper canines.

Harry stopped struggling and slowly sat up to look at the child that was slurping noisily as it fed from him. Indeed, the child was feeding with such hunger that Harry found himself incapable of pushing him off his arm. Instead, he calmly broadened his senses to get a feel of things. All he was able to detect from the child was an intense hunger but he found no wish to hurt or even attack him. The child was merely acting on instinct.

What's more, he felt an instant connection to the child, a sudden completion that settled that nagging sense of misplacement he'd felt since waking up that morning. He also looked somewhat familiar to Harry, so he call out softly to him, "Child..."

The child was calming down, his drinking slowing down until stopping completely a few seconds later. Realization came slowly into his eyes and with it a growing expression of horror. The child quickly let go of his wrist and tried to run back into the darkness but Harry managed to catch him as he turned away from him. He pulled the struggling child onto his lap and held him against his chest. Securing the child's arms with a firm hold, they now both sat facing the pond.

"Child, I won't hurt you." Harry winced as the child tried to bite his arms in an effort to get him to let go.

"On my magic I swear I won't hurt you intentionally, but I reserve the right to act in self defense," Harry vowed in order to get the child to at least listen to him. The child stopped struggling and sat rigidly in Harry's lap, breathing harshly.

"I'm sorry I have to hold you against your will but I can't trust you not to try and run away again. So unfortunately we are gonna have to talk like this, okay?"

The child didn't say anything; Harry sighed tiredly, he could already tell this was going to take a while.

"All right, look, I know you had no idea what you were doing a few minutes ago and I'm assuming you don't know the reason why either," he paused, waiting for the child to either confirm or deny his theory. He didn't.

"You have attacked me and fed from me. I really don't want to turn you in because frankly, I wouldn't trust the Ministry with my worst enemy, much less with a young child. However, if you don't start talking, I won't have any other choice but deliver you to the DRCMC (Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures). So what do you say you help me out here, hmm?"

"All right," the child said in a small but obviously angry voice, confirming Harry's hunch that the child was aware of the magical world. Keeping his intuitive senses open Harry continued, "Good. First of all my name is Harry Potter and I'm a 19-year-old muggle-born. And you are..?"

"Severus."

"Severus…" Harry waited for him to elaborate…..and waited some more…..

"Oh, come on, I'm going to need to know more than that if I'm to help you…"

"Stop it! I just attacked and hurt you and you don't know the first thing about me, so you have no reason to be nice to me. Just tell me whatever it is you want so I can leave," Severus said is obvious annoyance.

Harry remained silent; perhaps the name was not a coincidence after all…

"Believe it or not, I just want to help you."

"Don't think me a fool just because I'm a child. No one is ever _just_ being _nice_," practically hissing by the time he finished speaking.

"We're gonna be here all night if you can't trust me a bit. What must I do to get you to believe me?"

A long silence.

"Ostendo sum verum."

"And just where did you learn about that spell?"

"I'm not an idiot! I can read just fine you know!"

Harry really had to fight hard not to burst out laughing; Severus was as prickly as a cactus but he couldn't help thinking his attitude kind of cute.

"Well then we have a problem since I am currently without a wand. A rather unfortunate accident I must say. Or hadn't you wondered why I'm restraining you purely by physical means?"

"Makes sense I guess…" Harry could have sworn he hear him scowling.

"Here's an idea: I'll take you home tonight and we'll continue this discussion tomorrow afternoon. Besides, if you are what I think you are, you are going to need to feed again tomorrow and given that I'm the only one that knows about this particular craving of yours, I volunteer to be dinner for another day. What do you think?"

"That you will never be accused of eloquence," Severus snapped. "Did you have to make it sound so disgusting?"

Harry burst out laughing, and here he'd always thought Hermione was the only child to ever use words like 'eloquence' in casual conversation. Though he shouldn't have been surprised, the Severus he knew was an exceptionally intelligent individual after all.

"I take that to mean you accept my proposal then?" He asked in between chuckles.

"It's not like I have any other options now do I?"

"A simple 'yes' would have been fine." Harry shook his head gently at Severus' returned silence.

He then stood up slowly, allowing Severus to get to his feet beside him, making sure to keep a firm grip on Severus' right hand but being careful not to hurt him. They both took a moment to take a good look at each other. Since Severus' frown seemed to be getting bigger by the second Harry made sure to keep his face completely blank during his own scrutiny.

Severus was quite small, standing about 3'10'' (117 cm) with intense black eyes; a slightly large, somewhat curved, nose; and loose shoulder-length black hair. He seemed to be very slim under his baggy clothes and though the countenance looking up at him was decidedly unfriendly, Harry couldn't help but find Severus an endearing child in his own way. Harry smiled gently.

"Come on, let's get you home. Which way?"

Severus glared at him and then started walking away from the pond. Harry pressed his right wrist firmly to his body (just below his ribs) in order to help stop any more bleeding from the bite and hurried to keep up with his disgruntled companion.

Things were finally becoming clear...

* * *

AN:

1 For those of you who don't care for _The Wizard of Oz_, I simply mean he's no longer home.

2 I know Spinner's End is a muggle town and that Snape is a half-blood in canon but I needed to change things a bit…

**

* * *

Chapter 2**: Unexpected Changes

_January 9, 1968_

Severus Snape was not a typical 8-year old boy. His intelligence and maturity alienated him from most people: children tended to make fun of him and adults didn't know how to act around a child that won't let himself be babied.

But in some ways Severus was just like any other child. It was his birthday and things could not have started off better that morning. He had not even minded eating the stale bread and bland oatmeal for breakfast that morning, he was so happy.

Tobias, (his father, though Severus refused to call him that when he didn't have to) was working until 5pm so Severus and Eileen were free to celebrate his birthday for once. Tobias did not believe in wasting money in useless things like presents or parties, especially not in a son he considered a disappointment and a waste of space. Though he came from a pureblood linage, the family fortune had been squandered away many generations ago. As a result the Snape family was seen as a disgrace, each Snape failing to regain the family honor through the years. This had made Tobias a very bitter and unhappy man, often taking out his frustrations out on his wife and son. His son, Severus, hated him with a passion thus it was a joyous occasion for Severus to be able to spend a birthday with his mother and not have to worry about Tobias' temper.

Severus was only grateful for his mother's love and though he resented his mother's weakness she meant the world to him. At the moment, Severus and his mother had just finished a simple but time consuming numbing paste, which they usually don't dare do, so it was quite a treat. Severus knew how much his mother must have had to save up to buy the ingredients and he couldn't have asked for a better birthday present.

It was time for lunch by the time they had finished with the paste. They went to the kitchen together, removing their potions aprons and placing them on the backs of their chairs since there was no need to hide them at the moment. The kitchen was small and rundown, like all the rooms in the undersized house, but it had a clean and welcoming feel to it that was missing from the rest the house. This was the one place in which Eileen and her son spent most of their time together.

Eileen and Severus went over to the kitchen sink and scrubbed their hands clean. She motioned Severus to the table and began preparing their meager bread and cheese lunch. "Guess what?" His mother asked him mysteriously.

"What?" He repeated with an amused smirk.

"I was able to save up for a proper present this year." Eileen told him proudly.

"Really!" Severus exclaimed happily, a broad smile showing his missing right upper canine.

"Yes indeed," his mother said with a smile. She laid out their lunch and then took her seat with a wink. She then retrieved her ebony wand from her dress pocket and accioed a small present wrapped in bright green paper into the palm of her left hand. Eileen put her wand on the table and cupped both hands beneath the present, stretching out her arms and presenting it to Severus with happiness shining on her face.

Severus stretched out his right arm and accepted it. "Can I open it now?"

"Go ahead."

Severus unwrapped his present with great care. He had never gotten a properly wrapped up present before. His mother had always sneaked him extra food or a sickle to spend on sweets for when it was safe to do so. He loved sweets as much as he did potions but it was a luxury that was usually only possible a few times a year, if that.

"A Chocolate Frog!" He had never felt so happy in his life. He had gotten his two favorite things on the same day!

But suddenly everything came to a crushing halt. They heard the front door slam open and they looked at each other in dread.

Tobias was home early.

"Hide it! Quick!" His mother whispered to him and he stuffed his present into his pants' pocket quickly, for once thankful of his baggy clothes, his shirt being large enough to cover up the slight bulge in his pocket.

His mother had just picked up their potions aprons looking for a place to hide them when Tobias walked through the kitchen door.

"What the hell is going on around here?...I get fired from work and now I have to come home to see you turning our son into a damn pansy! What have I told you about teaching him potions, uh?" He yelled, roughly grabbing and shaking Eileen by the arm. "Answer me, dammit!"

Severus had never hated Tobias more. He wanted to interfere, to do _something_ but he knew that it would only make things worse, so he left. He ran to his room and shut the door, trying to shut out the sounds coming from the kitchen. He always had to wait there for his mother to come get him once it was safer.

So he crawled under his bed on his belly and tried not to think.

He tried not to think of the squashed birthday present in his pocket. He tried not to think of his mother's weakness…or his own. He tried not to think about his life and most of all…he tried not to think of the tears that were being soaked up by his shabby shirtsleeve.

HPSSHPSSHPSS

About an hour later he woke up to the sound of his bedroom door opening.

"Sev…" He heard his mothers whisper. "Your father is very angry about loosing his job again. Try to get out of the house without being seen and don't come back until after 9pm. Be careful honey."

The door closed again and he heard Tobias yelling for Eileen and stomping up the corridor towards his room. A minute later the door banged open and Severus could see Tobias' grubby, booted feet. He shrunk further under the bed and held his breath.

"Eileen, where did you hide that good for nothing brat! ... Answer me! I swear…" His yelling faded as he stalked out of the Severus' bedroom once more and Severus allowed himself to breathe again.

He waited a few more minutes and then got out from under his bed warily. He strained his hearing trying to make sure Tobias was nowhere near and walked over to his trunk at the foot of his bed. He carefully retrieved a coat as quickly and silently as he could and walked over to his bedroom window. He hurriedly opened it and slipped out, closing the window but leaving it open a fraction for when he came back from the park.

He always waited out his father's fits of temper at the park near his house. It was calm, almost always deserted, and Severus enjoyed looking at the pond at night time. The water seemed like an obsidian mirror he had seen in a book once, beautiful and enchanting unlike anything he'd ever seen.

He put on his over-sized coat while kneeling under his windowsill and as he slinked his way around the house he realized his gums here tingling and his stomach was aching in a peculiar manner. He was used to hunger pains but this was different. He had never felt anything like this before, almost like if he were hungry but the hunger felt more acute, deeper somehow. But he tried to ignore it for now and just headed for his favorite bench at the park.

However, it seemed today was simply meant to be a disappointment. There was someone already sitting there. He looked like a teenager, around 16 or 17, but on the short side, no taller than 5' 6" (168 cm) perhaps. He was dressed all in black: trousers, boots, robe and even his cloak. Though he looked young he had a rather imposing air. Just sitting there, doing nothing, his visage looked closed off and cold.

Severus sighed cursing his bad luck and went to sit under his favorite tree instead, close to the far edge of the park. The tree was perfect, standing opposite to a tall shrub and a big boulder on the side, producing a natural barrier on three sides and hiding him quite effectively from anyone that may wander past.

Sitting under his tree with nothing to do he became aware of his stomachache once again. He also touched his gums wearily; they were still tingling but not hurting at least. He inspected them hesitantly but couldn't find anything wrong, though it did seem that his new canine was already on its way. There was nothing he could do about his stomach so he just ignored it as best he could and sat going over potions ingredients in his mind to pass the time.

He spent the rest of the day there, sitting under his tree and getting up every once in a while to get a drink of water or to stretch out his legs as needed. By the time the sunset came about his stomachache was beyond what he could stand and his gums and even his teeth were aching by then. He just remained under the tree being as quiet as possible and wished the pain away with everything he had.

He didn't know how long he remained there, twisting around in pain; but all of a sudden everything stopped. Then just as quickly everything seemed to be rushing at him from all sides. He became aware of the soft rustling of the leaves and the gentle wind going through his hair. Something…..something inside him was changing, he didn't know what it was but he felt _awake_.

He felt hunger, a need for something….something that was nearby. He could feel it, what he needed was there…somewhere near the middle of the park. He absently felt a dull pain in his mouth and could distantly hear a faint hiss escape from his mouth but could not really bring himself to wonder why this should worry him. All he knew was that he had to _go_….had to _feed_…

He soon found himself near the pond, he knew his hunger could be assuaged there, but something told him that he needed to do it fast. If he didn't strike quickly his prey would escape.

Another sharp pain in his belly prompted him to move. He silently moved in on his meal trying to be stealthy but when he saw the teen standing up to leave he panicked. He needed him! He needed it!

He struck in a starved frenzy.

He could almost hear the blood in the man's veins, flowing, rushing…calling to him. He could feel the man struggling to push his face away but he just had to bite…had to drink…..had to end the ache.

Severus was in heaven when he tasted the first drop of that wonderful liquid. It was breathtakingly good. It tasted sweet…so sweet, but slightly tart, like a strawberry that's not quite ripe. He drank; he drank as much as he could, as quickly as he could. He had to drink while he still could, he didn't want to hurt again…Faintly, he realized his prey was no longer struggling…he could calm down, he was not going to run away…and then he heard something….

Severus slowly came to his senses. He looked up, someone was saying something…

"Child," he heard and then he realized what he was doing. He became aware of the blood in his mouth and his hold on the teen's arm. Disgusted by his actions he let go of the wrist and tried to run back to his tree but the teenager caught him mid leap. He struggled but was not strong enough to push him off and though he tried to bite his captor's hands all he managed were a few light nips instead.

"Child, I won't hurt you," he heard the gentle voice once again but refused to let himself be fooled just because he sounded kind.

"On my magic I swear I won't hurt you intentionally, but I reserve the right to act in self defense," the teenager then vowed, surprising Severus into stillness. He couldn't find anything wrong with the phrasing and he was tired from struggling so he decided to listen… for now anyways. Sitting there on another person's lap was way too uncomfortable and Severus was eager to get out of there, the sooner the better.

The teenager tried to get him to talk but Severus had always found that you learned more by keeping silent than trying to talk your way out of things. So he waited…until the teenager threatened him with the DRCMC. He really didn't want to go there. His mother would be beyond worried and who knows what Tobias would do to him…if he allowed him back to begin with. He doubted that Tobias would be willing to deal with a blood sucking creature, especially if it was him; one more thing for Tobias to add to his long list of faults.

"All right," he said concealing his fear with anger and waited for him to finish introducing himself.

He almost scoffed when the teenager said he was 19, there was no way he was an adult; he barely looked like he could be out of Hogwarts! He kept his thoughts to himself though and only gave his first name in return.

He finally lost his patience however when 'Harry' tried to make him believe he was only trying to help. Though he had no idea what this 'man' wanted he just wanted to get out of this mess as soon as possible and go home.

When Harry finally realized that Severus was not going to believe his lies like any other snot-nosed brat he said, "We're gonna be here all night if you can't trust me a bit. What must I do to get you to believe me?"

Severus thought silently, trying to find a request that would reveal his true intentions. Something that Harry would definitely refuse to do and thus prove him a liar. He then remembered something he read in one of his mother's old books, a spell that showed when someone lied: "Ostendo sum verum."

Predictably, Harry tried to mislead him, "And just where did you learn about that spell?"

Severus rolled his eyes since Harry couldn't see him in their current position. Did 'Harry' really thing he was going to be sidetracked so easily?

He hated to be thought an idiot but had to give it to Harry when he came up with a good excuse about why he won't do it.

"… I am currently without a wand. A rather unfortunate accident I must say. Or hadn't you wondered why I'm restraining you purely by physical means?"

"Makes sense I guess…" Severus answered quite unhappy. His plan had failed and he had no idea what to do now.

"Here's an idea: I'll take you home tonight and we'll continue this discussion tomorrow afternoon. Besides, if you are what I think you are, you are going need to feed again tomorrow and given that I'm the only one that knows about this particular craving of yours, I volunteer to be dinner for another day. What do you think?"

"That you will never be accused of eloquence," Severus snapped. "Did you have to make it sound so disgusting?" Really, if Harry was going to pretend to be an adult he could at least try to speak like one.

His life officially sucked…and now the buffoon was laughing his head off for some reason.

He really had no other choice but to do as Harry wanted at this point. Especially since it looked like he knew what was wrong with him. Severus had no idea what was going on, the only creatures he knew that drank blood were vampires but he had never even seen one so he was quite perplexed as to what could be happening to him. So he accepted Harry's terms.

Once they had gotten up Severus took the chance to examine his subjugator more closely. He was as short as he had first thought, with a slender body built, narrow shoulders and small hands for a man. He had short unruly black hair, high cheekbones, bright green eyes, and a faint scar that looked like a bolt of lightning on his forehead. Tobias would have taken one looked at him and declared him a 'pansy' in a second.

Severus however was no fool, for all his delicate appearance the person standing in front of him with a perfectly blank face was powerful. It was not the in-your-face kind of power but a more subtle and dangerous kind that puzzled him. Whether teenager or man, this person embodied enough contradictions to keep him off balance. He realized this man was dangerous but at the same time something inside of him, the same something that he had felt _awaken_, told him that this man was not a danger to him.

Harry smiled and then said, "Come on, let's get you home. Which way?"

Severus glared at him and started walking away from the pond still puzzled. Harry then turned his head slightly towards him, "If you plan to hide recent events I suggest you try to retract your fangs before we get to our destination."

Fangs?...He lightly ran his tongue over his upper teeth and sure enough he felt two fangs instead of his usual canine, even his old gap had been replaced by a fang. He was surprised he hadn't felt the difference, he hadn't even had a problem speaking clearly.

"Retract?" He asked, not sure what he meant.

"Your fangs are retractable; just try to picture your fangs shrinking to a normal size. They will still look a bit pointier than usual teeth, but that's all."

Severus knew that he had to get his teeth back to normal before he got home so he focused on 'retracting' his fangs and pretended to ignore the teen/man as much as possible. He finally managed to retract them by the time they got to the creek; they will reach his home soon.

When they were finally near his house Harry asked, "What time should I pick you up tomorrow?"

"Be here at 5." Severus ordered and walked off without another word. He had too many things to think about and just wanted to get away from him now that he could.

He looked back when he didn't hear the distinctive crack of apparation. He had assumed that Harry would apparate from there but when he looked back he saw no one there.

He felt a shiver crawl up his spine and it had nothing to do with the cool night air.

He sneaked back into his room through his bedroom window and changed his clothes quickly in case his mother came in to check on him. He knew he was dirty from rolling around on the soil and he even had a few drops of blood here and there. He didn't want to worry his mother and it was better to avoid questions for now. Thinking up a lie wasn't a problem but he'd rather not do it if he didn't have to. Not to mention that he didn't know what was going on with him anyways.

Severus didn't know what to think of 'Harry.' His power was obvious and it was just as obvious that he wanted something from Severus. Whether he had arranged for things to happen this way or if he was just taking advantage of Severus' condition, he didn't know. But one thing he knew was that whatever 'Harry' wanted with him he was going to be extremely careful in his dealings with him...no matter how much his heart was telling him Harry could be trusted.

**Chapter 3** – Getting Started

_January 9, 1968_

"What time should I pick you up tomorrow?" Harry asked Severus once they stopped next to a slow running brook, a small and rundown house about 9 meters (30 ft) in front of them. The walk had been surprisingly short, only about .8 km (.5 mi) from the park.

"Be here at 5." Severus ordered and walked off without another word. Harry just smiled at the attitude and making sure to blank his expression before leaving, apparated to the Leaky Cauldron in London.

Once inside the apparation point at the Cauldron, Harry stepped to the side and took a quick look around. It looked just as dark and shabby as he remembered it, though Tom looked younger with dark brown hair and all of his teeth. Instead of looking like a toothless walnut he looked more like a young Einstein, though his hair was nowhere near as interesting.

The pub was almost empty with only a dark, shrouded figure having a quiet drink in a corner and a rather sad looking drunk talking to Tom at the counter. Harry made his way over to them slowly and waited to be acknowledged not wanting to disturb the conversation.

He saw Tom pat the drunk in the back and lead him towards the Floo with a few whispered assurances. Once the drunk had disappeared in a burst of green flames Tom walked back to Harry and apologized with a smile. "Sorry about that, poor bloke had quite the spat with his wife. Now, how can I help you?"

Harry nodded his head once and replied, "I need a room for two nights please. Also, do you happen to know what time Gringotts is open for business?"

"Not a problem, would you like to pay for both nights or pay each night at a time?"

"For both."

"That comes to 10 Sickles 10 Knuts then. Would a room next to the stairwell be all right?"

Harry responded that it was, paid the requested amount, and motioned him to lead the way.

Tom nodded and said, "Follow me please; all guestrooms are in the upper floors. I'm Tom; as for Gringotts, they are open for business 24 hours but I wouldn't suggest going there until after 7 tomorrow morning. The customers at Gringotts and going about Diagon Alley around this time of night are bound to be a little rough if you catch my drift…Ah, here we are…" They had stopped on the second floor, in front of the first door on the right from the stairwell. Tom unlocked the door and continued: "the lavatory is through the door on your right, just clap your hands to turn the lights on and off …" Harry raised an eyebrow at that and Tom chuckled good-naturedly.

"Makes things easier for little ones that don't yet have a wand and the occasional squib," he shrugged. "It has been working all right so far, I think I'm gonna make it a permanent feature. Anyways, breakfast is available from 5:30 to 9, and then the kitchen & bar are open for orders from 11am-10pm. Check-out time is before 10am the morning after your last night here; please inform me if you need to extend your stay as soon as you can. If you need anything at any time during your stay just pull the cord next to your bed twice and Igor or I will be right up to help. Here's your key…good night," Tom finished a little hurriedly, not really comfortable with Harry's constant blank expression.

Harry took the key and closed the door. He supposed his cold demeanor can be a bit intimidating for those who are not used to it. He had gotten so used to people treating him the same because they knew who he was, that Tom's reaction took him aback a little. He walked over to the bed by the window and knelt beside it while taking the miniaturized trunk off his choker. Putting the trunk on the floor he took a few steps back and said _enlarge_. He'd never been so glad he didn't use the standard shrinking charm on his trunk or he would be in big trouble right now without his wand.

The trunk returned to its usual size and Harry took the time to check his wrist. Luckily, the bite wound had stopped bleeding a while ago and already seemed to be healing. Shrugging indifferently he set about opening his trunk and taking inventory of everything he had: his first-aid kit, clothes, daggers, research books, another miniaturized chest containing the remaining Black fortune, his invisibility cloak, a set of communication mirrors, and Hedwig's owl cage. Overall a rather pitiful lot. Unfortunately Hedwig's cage was useless now so there was no point in keeping it but he returned everything else back inside, making sure to put the chest on the top.

Shoulders slumping slightly, he took out his first-aid kit and bandaged up his wrist before getting ready for bed; it should be healed up by tomorrow morning. It had taken a little while to get used to his accelerated healing but considering his usual escapades it was a very welcome side effect.

It had been a long day and tomorrow wasn't going to be any better. The only good thing so far had been meeting Severus and even that had come about in a rather hostile manner. Thank Merlin he was getting a wand tomorrow, it will help him feel a bit better at least.

_January 10, 1968_

Harry woke up and looked out the window. It was still dark but he felt well rested so he was fairly sure it was sometime before dawn. He _really_ missed his wand, he felt almost naked without it.

After a long hot shower and getting dressed (which included a dagger on his right forearm and one in his left boot) he made sure his things were in order and then went down to breakfast. The place was even emptier than before with only an old witch in attendance who was cooing at her cat and feeding it scraps from her plate.

He walked over to Tom who was sitting behind the counter reading the day's _Prophet_. "Tom…"

Tom put down the newspaper and smiled in welcome. "Good morning there! I hope you slept well? Oh and before I forget will you please sign in, I forgot last night what with poor Hub crying all over the place and it being so late, it just slipped right off my mind!" Tom said enthusiastically while pushing a thick leader-bound ledger, an inkwell, and a quill towards Harry. He almost smiled; Tom was obviously a morning person.

"Yes, I slept well," Harry answered calmly while writing down his name. "I was wondering if I could get some breakfast and if you could then open up the wall-entrance to Diagon Alley for me?"

"Potter huh...?" Tom muttered after seeing his name. He gave him a long look but had to look away in the end when Harry just stared right back. "Umm, right, no problem, breakfast will be 2 Sickles, take a seat and I'll be right back." Harry almost laughed right there and then. Tom was almost running to the kitchen trying to get away from him.

He took a seat at one of the tables nearest to the Diagon entrance and placed two Sickles by the edge of the table. Tom soon came back with his meal and left again as fast as his short little legs would carry him.

Harry ate his meal and then called Tom to open up the wall for him. The poor man didn't even try to ask why he didn't do it himself; he just wished him a good day and left him on his own again.

Harry barely noticed the archway shrinking back into solid wall, he was too entranced by what he was seeing. Back home, Diagon Alley had fallen under Voldemort's control about 6 months before the war ended. He had not set foot in it in for over a year and even on his first time there, it had been nothing like this. The people were smiling and carefree. All of them walking around in a leisurely manner and shopping without fear or constantly keeping an eye on their surroundings. Every store, from the pet shop to the Apothecary had at least two customers and there were no closed-down shops or battle-scared storefronts. It was the most uplifting sight he had seem since he got here.

Stopping himself from relaxing his guard, he easily wove his way through the crowd and headed to Gringotts. The people he came across kept their distance if they happened to catch a glimpse of his face, so it was a very swift trip. Once he made it to the front doors of the bank he nodded to the Goblins guarding the entrance and made his way inside.

He loosened up his body and strolled over to the first available counter. "I would like to open a high security account please."

The Goblin stared at him. Harry stared right back. Then the Goblin gave him a sharp-toothed smile (or grimace depending on how you looked at it) and said: "This way please."

Harry followed the Goblin through a pair of steel doors behind him and then to a corridor with doors featuring golden nameplates. They stopped in front of a door with a plaque that said, _Nagnot Grod_. The Goblin leading him knocked twice and then opened the door. "A costumer wishes to open a high security account Master Grod," he spoke to the Goblin sitting behind a desk about 20feet (6m) beyond the open door.

Now Harry was _really_ becoming fascinated (not that you could see it on his face). If he wasn't mistaken, and he doubted it because Master Grod looked very disgruntled right now, this Goblin had surely lead him to the most sourly Goblin available! Who would have thought, Goblins actually had a sense of humor, evidently leaning towards the nasty side, but present none the less. At least this part of his plan wasn't going to be boring.

"Very well, send him in."

The Goblin flashed his teeth at him again and looked disgruntled when he did nothing else but nod at him. If he didn't already know any better, Harry could have sworn that the Goblin stalked off in a huff. He stepped inside and broadened his awareness, trying to discern as much as possible about the office. He really hated going into a room he knew nothing about; it was always harder to make an exit when you didn't even know if there _was_ an exit.

He detected another Goblin inside the office by the door and the strong intertwining Goblin magic surrounded the office, but nothing threatening to his senses. Therefore, he wasn't at all surprised when the Goblin next to him closed the door and said, "Remove you weapons please." Now that _was _surprising. Everyone present knew that neither party would attack in any way; it would be bad for businesses obviously…. What was the point of relinquishing his weapons?

"Mmmm…why should I do as you request?" Harry asked aloofly put still politely.

The Goblin looked to Master Grod. Harry doubted anyone had ever actually refused to do as asked before or then again, maybe no one had ever come to open an account while so armed.

"You are the first Wizard to actually question an obviously pointless request of ours." Master Grod smiled…Goblins can smile! "What is your business with us today?"

Harry merely arched an eyebrow but answered nonetheless. "My name is Harry Potter and like I mentioned before I would like to open a high security account. In addition, I would also like to acquire a house-elf. I'm afraid I have never worked with one before, so I'm not quite sure how to go about it."

Master Grod looked…surprised? But he quickly returned to his regular sour-Goblin expression and responded. "Well, first off let's see about that account and then we will look into the house-elf issue." He pulled out what seemed to be a blank piece of parchment and set it on the desk between the two of them.

"If you would please place a drop of blood on this in order to establish identity…"

Harry complied, not really worried about whatever it would show. Goblins never got mixed up with wizarding affairs, especially if their customer had more than enough gold to do business with them.

The parchment absorbed the blood and two lone words appeared in bright red letters: _Harry Potter_

Master Grod's eyes widened, he was definitely surprised.

"Is there a problem?"

"No. No, of course not. It is just very unusual to meet the originator of a bloodline."

"Don't you see this type of thing with muggle-borns?"

Master Grod looked stuck between disgusted and disdainful. Harry contained the urge to giggle, he really was having too much fun. It looked like Dumbledore's company had corrupted him after all…

"Actually no. The usual so-called 'muggle-borns' are in truth descendants of squibs and through them automatically attain a magical lineage. The last true muggle-born that opened an account with us was Rowena Ravenclaw in the year 1023."

"I see. Is there anything else you need before I turn over my money?"

"No, this parchment enables us to find your magical signature if we need to contact you. Don't worry, our Blood-Linage parchments cannot be taken outside the walls of Gringotts, not even by a Gringotts Goblin. The parchment is enchanted to return to its original location if taken beyond our boundaries and they cannot be altered in any way or copied without your permission."

"All right, let's get to business then," Harry replied while taking off his miniaturized his trunk and setting it on the floor a few feet from his chair. He quietly enlarged it and quickly removed the chest with the Black fortune. He placed the chest on the desk and enlarged it as well. Then he promptly shrunk his trunk again and sat back down.

"I'm not exactly sure how much I have in here but I'm sure you won't have a problem finding out for me." Harry informed them coolly as he opened up the chest for them.

"Not at all..." Master Grod rumbled and his assistant quickly took out a medium sized cart from somewhere under the desk and proceeded to empty the contents of the chest into the cart; a running tally appearing on a roll of parchment attached to the cart's side. Once done with the counting Master Grod ripped off the portion containing the final tally and pushed the cart under his desk once more. His thin, almost nonexistent eyebrows rose slightly on his brow and he said somewhat sarcastically, "Well Mr. Potter, for being muggle-born you have quite the sum in wizarding money."

Harry simply remained silent and waited.

"The total amount of your currency comes to 489,000 Galleons, 41 Sickles, and 194 Knuts."

"Mmmm…I guess I spent a bit more than I had thought in my travels…I would like a money pouch linked to my vault and I would like to receive bimonthly account statements instead of just the usual monthly. What is the annual fee for the account, the cost of the money pouch, and are there any other charges I should be aware of?" Harry inquired politely.

"There will be a one time opening fee of 1 Galleon; the annual fee for a high security vault is 10 Galleons, and the money pouch will be 15 Sickles (If you loose your pouch report it immediately and we are not responsible for any stolen funds linked to your pouch. A replacement pouch costs 1 Galleon 2 Sickles which includes the processing fee). Also, there will be a supplementary annual charge of 12 Sickles for the additional account statements." Master Grod recited tonelessly.

"I accept the fees," Harry said.

"Good," Master Grod waved to the other Goblin, who pressed his finger to the side of the desk where the cart had been returned. Meanwhile, Master Grod pressed his index finger to the Blood-Linage parchment and whispered something in Gobbledegook. The parchment rapidly filling up with what looked like gibberish to Harry and a key appeared on top of it. Then Grod turned to address Harry once more. "Your account has been processed and here is your vault key. Vault number 782. Now that's settled, are there any especial skills you need your house-elf to excel at?"

"Not really, I just need one that dislikes cooking," Harry answered casually while pocketing his vault key.

"Excuse me." The Goblin peered at him with what Harry was sure was a vaguely puzzled expression, though the sneer came back soon enough.

Harry smiled, slightly condescending, and replied. "If you cannot acquiesce to my specification I suppose I'll make do with whatever you have available…"

Master Grod drew himself up and answered through clenched teeth. "Gringotts takes great pride on the quality of its service and I assure you your request will be fulfilled to your expectations. Your…unique requirement however might make your wait rather lengthy unfortunately, so in respect to your wizarding nature and comfort I would like to make a suggestion. Would you perhaps be willing to accept another distinguishing quality in your elf? I am sure you don't want to spend whatever time it takes to find your house-elf with a couple of Goblins…." Harry cut him off quickly waving his hand in dismissal.

"Thank you for thinking of my comfort but I don't mind waiting….with Goblins or otherwise." They both then looked at each other with equally small and fake smiles; though Harry was at a disadvantage since he lacked the pointy teeth to match a Goblin's intimidating appearance.

"Make yourself comfortable and we shall see about your house-elf." Harry thought that Master Grod had left along with his assistant just so that he won't have to look at him anymore. He looked quite displeased with Harry's request.

Harry remained sitting while he waited. He closed his eyes thinking about the scolding Hermione would be giving him if she knew he was getting a house-elf. However, if things were to go down the way he thought, he was really going to need some loyal help; not to mention that he really did enjoyed elfish company, once they had calmed down a bit.

An hour later Master Grod returned with a young house-elf wearing a dirty pillowcase following behind him. He was even smaller then Dobby had been; with big dark-blue eyes, a long nose, and bat-like ears, one of which he was twisting around in nervousness.

"This elf seems to meet your specifications…." He said walking towards his own seat and motioning to the house-elf.

Harry stood up and knelt on one knee in front of the elf standing in the middle of the room.

"What is your name?" He asked the elf.

"N-Noodle, sir." The elf answered timidly.

Harry nodded and said, "Well Noodle, would I be correct in assuming you hate cooking?"

"Well sir, Noodle can cook, sir. But Noodle likes cleaning and gardening, much _much _better."

"Mmm…good enough. I will be preparing most of the meals and I don't want an elf that would mind or that would try to take over my kitchen."

"Oh no, no, no, no, no! Noodle would nevers! I won't disobey master!" The elf assured Harry hurriedly, his ears flapping erratically as he shook his head in emphasis.

"Good, I will take you as my elf then if you agree…" He was cut off by the overenthusiastic elf. "Oh yes, yes, yes! Yes Noodle does!"

"Then we will go to Madam Malkin's to get you some clothes later today and then we'll be on our way. I don't want you to worry though; I will not be giving you clothes. I simply like my elf to be clean and well dressed, that's all. You will also have to take meals with me if I'm home, will you be able to put up with that? "

Harry could even feel the Goblin staring at him in shock now.

"Eat with master…" The little elf was near tears and just trailed off in astonishment until he answered a couple seconds later, "yes, Noodle still wants to serve master."

Harry nodded and went to take his seat once more. "Then it's settled. I'll take Noodle with me. Also, while you were gone I remembered something; does Gringotts still set up bets on the professional Quidditch matches?"

"Yes…the bet is matched with the closest opposing bet or is taken up by Gringotts, if interested…" Grod answered slowly, as if unsure he really wanted to hear whatever Harry would turn up with next.

"Then I would like to place 500 Galleons on the Chudley Cannons to win on tomorrow's game against the Appleby Arrows. 300 Galleons to win for the Wimbourne Wasps playing against the Falmouth Falcons on the 11th and another 300 Galleons for a tie on the Wimbourne Wasps and Puddlemere United game on the 14th." He also remembered Ron telling of another game on the 15th won by the Kenmare Kestrels but he didn't get a good feel about it so decided against placing that final bet. He should turn up enough profit from the other wagers anyways.

Grod frowned at him and shook his head, muttering about crazy wizards and wasting good money on pure lunacy, while shuffling desk-papers about. "Gringotts will take the Cannons' wager since there are no sane wizards that would bet 500 Galleons on them and I have set up the corresponding opposing ventures for the other two."

Harry simply nodded unperturbed and motioned towards Noodle, "How much is the total then?"

"210 Galleons in addition to all account fees. Here is your first account statement and if you do not return on the 15th to check your winnings/losses personally they will automatically be added or deducted to/from your vault the next day. You will receive your account statement every 15th and at the end of each month. Here is your money pouch. Place your vault key inside and simply think of the key or the amount needed and it will appear. Is there anything else I can help you with today?" Grod asked rather rudely by now.

"No. That'll be all for today. Have a nice day." He said to Grod with a small smile, just to irk him and motioned for Noodle to follow him. Once on the hallway Noodle completed his bond with Harry and they went about their way.

Once outside Gringotts they finally went to Ollivanders.

Harry and Noodle entered, a chime ringing softly as they stepped up to the counter. Old Ollivander appeared as mysteriously as ever murmuring a soft, "Good morning." His wide pale white-grey eyes still creeping Harry out. He was staring at Harry as if seeing something no one else could see.

"I need a wand." Harry stated a bit irritated. He just wanted his wand and to get on with his day.

"Let's see what we have here then…" the old man murmured almost talking to himself, and so the search for Harry's wand was begun…

Two hours later Harry was about ready to scream in frustration, the first time had only taken half an hour and he had been a 'tricky customer' back then as well.

"I wonder…" Ollivander said looking cool as a cucumber.

"What exactly?" Harry asked with no patience left in him.

"You know Mr.…" Ollivander gave him a look and waited.

"Potter." Harry snapped wanting to hurry things along as much as possible.

"Mr. Potter, all wands are made with a core of a powerful magical substance. We use unicorn hairs, phoenix feathers, even veela hair, etc. There is a wide range of magical substances available but do you know why we use them?" Harry rightly assumed this was a rhetorical question and waited for the old man to finish his lecture.

"The reason is that magical beings need powerful enough substances to channel their magic. This is how matching takes place, by finding the right complement in power and temperament between the core and the user. Power varies throughout the range of magical substances just like they vary among magical beings, thus a proper wand can be made for every kind of witch and wizard imaginable. You, however, are unique. Your magic is too powerful to allow an efficient flow of magic through a regular wand core; no complement exists in nature for your magic. Your magic will incinerate low-power cores and powerful cores will hinder your spell casting because they would not be powerful enough to truly mach you."

"But I had no problem with my previous wand and it was a completely regular wand core," Harry contradicted.

"Ah, but you must have had that wand from childhood. Magic, like most things, matures with time. Because this process is a slow one the wand you use during your development will adapt to your magic as well, especially because at the time you use it so much in your schooling, it facilitates the process." He looked at Harry as if trying to decide something and then said, "Wait here please."

He disappeared beyond a tower of wand boxes and then returned a few minutes later with a brown box in his hands. Harry was interested; the boxes everywhere around the store were either gray or black.

"Try this one: neem-wood and vampire-bat fangs, 10 inches; nice and sturdy." Harry took the dark reddish-brown wand and decided right then and there that it was the last one he would try. He would take his chances going to Knockturn Alley if he had to but he'd had enough of Ollivander wands for the day.

However as soon as he took the wand , he knew he'd found the one when he felt a sudden rush of warmth go through his body. There were no flashing lights or sudden fireworks but the wand felt completely comfortable and even familiar in his hand.

"Ah…provably the only wand of its kind, made by my great-grandfather you know. Perfect for healing and defense. A _very _unusual combination."

Harry was really curious how the fangs of a non-magical creature could even be used for a wand core but he was too annoyed to wait through what would undoubtedly be a very long explanation. Instead he paid the 2 Galleons for his wand and rushed out the door.

He took a long deep breath once outside and turned to Noodle, "I'm really sorry about that, I didn't think it would take so long to get a wand. Why don't you go ahead of me? I have a room at the Leaky Cauldron, #2, go wait for me there until I return. Here's a Galleon, buy yourself something if you get hungry, we'll go buy your clothes tomorrow." He turned around and swiftly headed for Knockturn Alley. He knew Noodle will be fine and he didn't want to stay too long in case Noodle started channeling Dobby.

He put on his hood and headed for the bookstore Hermione had gotten most of their research books from. It was in one of those books in fact that he had read about human-vampires, which is what he believed Severus was. He was hoping to find a book that will help Severus, as well as a copy of the original book he had read, _The Vampire_ by Kula Countdra. _The Vampire_ was too advanced for Severus at the moment, not to mention that it was a 1970 special edition.

He finally saw the store: Binks' Rare & Limited Ed. Books. He stepped inside and walked towards the witch sorting books by the cash register. "Excuse me; do you have any books on magical beings?" She pointed to the left without looking up and said, "Last aisle, follow the arrows."

He walked to where she had indicated and saw two arrows. One was pointing to the right marked: Vampires & Veela. The other one was marked: Werewolves & Yeti and pointed to the left. And that's when he got his first real shock of the day.

Albus Dumbledore was standing near the end of the aisle reading a book in front of the werewolf section. He was under glamour of course, but Harry had been able to look through those for the past three years. Under the gentle rainbow like swirls of magic surrounding Dumbledore, Harry could see a much younger Dumbledore than the one he knew. He was dressed in bright purple robes with little golden broomsticks flying around, but his beard and hair were a mix of bright auburn and white, instead of the complete silver-white he was used to. He felt overwhelming grief and love for the old man, along with a faint resentment that he didn't even try to hold back.

Harry made sure his hood covered his face adequately and focused his senses on Dumbledore. Dumbledore was contemplating something with slight worry but hopeful at the same time; and deeper still he felt happiness, a satisfied feeling of accomplishment but a little worried about being good enough for the job.

Harry slowly retreated and remembered that it was around this time that Dumbledore had been appointed Deputy Headmaster, and he didn't have to wonder why he was reading up on werewolves. Following his instincts he approached, stopping a couple of feet in front of Dumbledore. "Don't worry Professor, you will be a wonderful Deputy and the young werewolf will be a very clever Gryffindor, one of the best students to ever attend Hogwarts."

Dumbledore almost dropped the book he was reading in astonishment but didn't reply. Harry calmly walked over to the vampire section and ignored Dumbledore's piercing stare at his back. A few more seconds passed and then Dumbledore left without a word.

Harry sighed into his chest, he really hated when he acted on pure instinct. He had no idea what he was going to say until he had already said it. It always felt eerie whenever that happened; it was too reminiscent of Trelawney for his peace of mind.

Pushing the event aside for now he focused on the books in front of him instead and an hour of searching later, Harry walked to the register with his finds. _Born_ a _Human-Vampire: A Guide, _Vol. I-II_; Reaching Maturity _(for when Severus was older); _The Vampire_ (1960ed.); and _Human-Vampires: A Parent's Guide. _The last one should come in handy, if he was going to try and help Severus he might as well learn as much as he could, not to mention that he could also make a copy for Severus' mother as well. From what little he remembered of Snape, he loved his mother so he had high hopes that he will find an ally in her instead a hindrance. The Snape he knew was not a vampire though, so he still wasn't sure what made the change possible this time around, but he had the feeling that he had something to do with it.

He headed back to his room at the Leaky Cauldron wishing he could just apparate. He was tired and hungry and wanted nothing more than some warm food and a soft bed. He checked the time and saw it was 12:48pm already. No wonder he was hungry.

Harry walked straight to his room and the first thing he saw as he entered was a very distressed house-elf standing in the middle of the room. He contained a tired sigh. "Hello Noodle, did you eat already?"

"No, Master…"

"Just Harry, please." Harry said gently but there was no mistaking the obvious command.

Noodle stared at him wide eyed, looking like he was having trouble speaking.

"Why didn't you eat? You weren't hungry?" Harry asked as he removed his cloak and shoes. Noodle quickly went over him and picked up his discarded clothes. Harry knew Noodle could have taken care of it with a snap of his fingers so he was probably going nuts with nothing to do.

"No….sir. Noodle wasn't hungry."

"I see…are you hungry now? I'm starving. Please buy enough food for the both of us downstairs. Take any more money you need from here, I'm going take a short nap while you come back, ok?" Harry instructed while placing some money on the bedside table and lay down on the bed. He didn't know why he was so tired; maybe it was yesterday's blood loss.

Still, he was going to loose more blood tonight, not to mention that the conversation would undoubtedly be stressful. But things will work out well in the end, now he just had to visit the Ministry and a real state agent tomorrow and his new life would officially begin.

Surprisingly, he was looking forward to it and he fell asleep with a tiny smile on his face.

* * *

AN: I have made up my own system to figure out the whole money thing.

Basically: 6 Knuts = $ 1 (US)

1 Sickle = $ 5

1 Galleon = $82

A reminder:

1 Galleon = 17 Sickles

1 Sickle = 29 Knuts

**

* * *

Chapter 4**: A Meeting and Taking Care of Business

_January 10_

Harry apparated to meet with Severus at a quarter to five, he just hoped things turned out better now that he had a wand. He then saw Severus leaving his house and making his way towards him.

"Good evening, Severus." Severus was not frowning like yesterday, but he looked very unhappy. He also had a bruise on the right side of his jaw. Harry didn't mention it, deciding it would be better to wait until they were under the truth spell instead.

"Do you know of a place we can talk or would you rather we apparated to my place? I have a room at the Leaky Cauldron… I am still under oath not to hurt you and I guarantee your safety while you're with me."

Severus gave him a long suspicious look and sighed. "Let's go to your place," and approached to stand next to Harry. Harry put his arm around Severus' shoulders and apparated them to his room. Once there he quickly let go of Severus, who had gone stiff at Harry's touch. He clapped his hands to turn on the lights and took out his wand to levitate his bedside table to the middle of the room. Lastly, he conjured two cushioned chairs, low enough to match Severus' height comfortably.

"Would you like something to drink before we begin?" He asked while closing the window curtains and securing the room. When he turned back to Severus he noticed him blushing and glowering at him.

"I'm hungry," Severus replied stiffly but noticeably embarrassed.

"I'm sorry," Harry said feeling guilty and inconsiderate. "I realized you needed to feed when I saw that bruise on your jaw. You probably didn't feed enough yesterday. Not to mention that you will need to feed twice a day for the next 4-5 years. You must be starving by now."

He quickly retrieved a blood replenishing potion from his trunk and drank it down. He then placed his wand on the table and knelt next to the nearest chair, facing towards it. "Please take a seat, it will be more comfortable for you to feed this way." Harry said while folding up his left robe sleeve and performing a few cleansing charms on his wrist.

Once Severus sat down, Harry offered him his wrist. Severus gave him one last long searching look and bit down a little too enthusiastically.

Harry hissed at the slight sting. "Try to drink slowly. It is easy to overfeed when you don't know your limits yet."

Severus followed his advice and fed slowly for the next ten minutes, his eyes closed. He finally finished and nodded in thanks while licking his lips lightly. Harry smiled kindly and stood up feeling a little dizzy as he made his way to the chair on the opposite side of the table.

"Are you all right?" Severus asked.

"I'm fine. Just got up too fast I think." He sat down on the other side of the table and asked, "How do you want to go about this?"

"Perform the spell and we'll take it from there."

Harry grasped his wand and making a sweeping gesture to include Severus and himself said, "Ostendo sum verum." A small transparent globe appeared on the center of the table.

"It is done. Just as a reminder, once the globe is activated any time you or I say a lie the globe will turn red. Otherwise it remains white. Ready?"

"Yes, but I get to go first." Severus demanded looking Harry straight in the eye. Harry did not smile, he could see Severus was being serious and didn't want him to think he was laughing at him.

"Agreed." He then touched his wand to the globe, "Activate." The globe turned black for a second before becoming a solid white.

"I want to test it first." Severus told Harry and then focused on the globe. "My favorite color is red." The globe turned red and Severus nodded, satisfied with the results.

"Repeat what you told me yesterday about yourself. I want to make sure we don't miss anything."

"My name is Harry Potter, 19 years old and before my 10th birthday had no idea that magic was real." The globe remained white.

Harry asked his question next. "Why did you accept to meet with me? I know you had no reason to trust me, even with my vow."

Severus frowned, "I didn't want to be turned in to the Ministry and I don't want my mother to know about…all this…I prefer to take my chances with you than go tell her I'm getting blackmailed because I have turned into a bloodsucking monster…I hope my luck will be better than yesterday's. Whatever it is you want from me, it can't be all that bad without breaking your vow."

Severus then looked him straight in the eye for a second. "Do you really want to help me and if so why?"

Harry arched an eyebrow. It looks like this was _the _question he had really wanted to ask.

"I honestly want to help you." The globe remained white. "As for why…that's complicated. I want to help you because it is in my power to do so. Deep down inside me I know I am here to help you." The globe remained white and Severus' feeling became so intense that Harry felt them crashing into him in a flood: hope…doubt…joy…hurt….and then it became too jumbled for Harry to decipher. Harry quickly strengthened his Occlumency shields with a wince. This phenomenon was very rare; usually Harry needed to significantly focus on someone in order to achieve such intense emotional impressions.

"Tell me about yourself, like I have." Harry prompted next in order to help Severus back on track.

Severus swallowed. "Severus Snape, 8 years old, pureblood…What makes you think you are here to help _me_?" Severus asked softly, eyes firmly set on the globe now.

"I know...the same way I know the doubt, fear, and pain you are feeling right now. I knew it when I first met you and I know that you need my help to guide you through the changes you are going through; to help you escape your abusive father and to be there for you when you need me. I will be here to help you in every way I can, for as long as I can."

The globe remained white and Harry let Severus take in everything he had said. He also noticed that Severus' jaw had completely healed, no hint of the bruise remained. All vampires heal quickly, so long as they are well fed.

"Things are not like I thought…are they?" Severus asked, blinking away tears he refused to let fall.

"No. And I'm glad you are starting to trust me." Harry paused, thinking about the best way to phrase what he wanted to say. "You are not a bloodsucking monster. What you are, is a vampire. A human-vampire to be exact."

Severus leaned on the table, interested. "How can a vampire be human?"

"Vampires, like veela, centaurs, werewolves, etc., are magical beings, just like witches and wizards. I don't see other magical beings as not being human, but rather more as humans from different races. This is my own personal view mind you and I don't know, nor care, how the rest of the wizarding world sees things. To further answer you question, human-vampires is a term for one _type_ of vampire.

"A human-vampire is born from a witch and wizard that are carriers of vampire genes. If their child inherit these genes from both of them and then have these genes become active, the child becomes what is known as a human-vampire. There are different types of vampires as well as a complicated hierarchy within vampire society that I will teach you later on… What you need to know right now is that you will need to feed twice a day until you reach puberty. At that time your hunger will abate and you will only need to feed once a day, and in lesser quantities. You will also notice that your senses will become much sharper. Though your sense of taste will remain almost unchanged, your strength, hearing, and sense of smell will surpass human limits effortlessly. But these changes will happen gradually in the next year or so. You will just need to be careful about hiding your superhuman attributes from those you rather not know about your vampirism."

By now Severus had gone back to staring at the globe and Harry didn't know what was more shocking to Severus, what Harry was telling him or the fact that the globe remained white all the way through his lecture.

"Severus," Harry waited for his attention once more. "Things will never be the same again…and your mother needs to know about this." Severus' jaw almost hit the table, but he quickly took control of himself and glared at Harry instead.

"Easy for you to say; you're not the one that has to tell her! And what the hell am I suppose to say anyway? _I_ barely know what I am right now!"

Harry got up and retrieved _Born_ a _Human-Vampire: A Guide, _Vol. I-II. He placed the books in front of Severus and retook his seat. "I bought these for you today. It was the most comprehensive guide I could find. There are a few others I got as well, but they're for when you're older. These ones will tell you everything you need to know, the first volume in particular. The second one is just as good but mostly pertains to puberty. If you have any additionally questions feel welcome to ask me." Harry stopped here, knowing that Severus wasn't going to like what he was about to say next. "I'm also going to need to meet with your mother as soon as possible…"

Severus scoffed. "That will take a miracle. Tobias is out of a job again. He's going to spend the rest of the year at the house, if not longer."

Harry was confused, this sounded like something Tobias did often. "How does your mother pay for necessities then? Does he make your mother work?"

"No. As long as mom doesn't work and Tobias is out of a job, he's able to claim Family Assistance from the Ministry. It's supposed to act as supplemental income until he finds a job again, but believe me, he won't be running to the nearest unemployment office any time soon."

"If Tobias…I'm assuming Tobias is your father..?" Severus nodded with a grimace of distaste. "…is going to be spending so much time home, it makes things even more urgent and more complicated. I know he's abusive so even if you weren't a vampire I would still try to get you out of there as soon as possible. You cannot be sneaking around twice a day to feed. If I can convince your mother to leave Tobias I have the means to take care of you both. She's an adult after all and in a better position to do something about your situation."

Severus didn't comment on that, looking more than just slightly skeptical about Harry's last remark.

"You are going to have to read as much as you can tonight so that you can talk to her tomorrow morning. Afterward, get her to feed you if possible. It's not a good idea to miss feedings. But I really need to meet with her. I need her support if I'm to help you both."

HPSSHPSSHPSS

Harry then called for Igor to bring him writing utensils. Severus waited and thought about everything Harry had told him. He was still having a hard time believing that everything wasn't just a dream. He had come to this meeting thinking that Harry would refuse to do the spell with some lame excuse and that he would be ordered to do something is exchange for information about his condition.

Instead, here he was with a man that not only submitted to a truth detection spell _willingly _but also promised to help him and his mother escape Tobias while _still _under the spell. It was as if all his prayers had been answered, though he was still afraid that all of this will somehow head south. But until all this turned out to be a trap, a lie, or whatever else, he had hope. The fact that Harry wanted to meet with his mother gave him faith that this was for real. Until something happened to tell him otherwise he will trust Harry on his word.

When Igor returned, Harry started writing a letter as soon as he left and talked to Severus as he wrote. "I am going to give you a communication mirror. Tell your mother as much as you can beforehand and then give her this letter. In it I tell her who I am, how we met, and ask her approval to meet with me tomorrow night."

"Are you out of your mind! Tobias will be there…!" Harry held up a hand and motioned Severus to calm down. "I am asking her agreement to knockout your father actually. This way I can meet with your mother at your house. I am simply proposing your house because I believe she would feel more comfortable in familiar surroundings but we can go elsewhere if she wishes. I'm not giving her many specifics so it's up to you to make everything clear."

Severus shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He had actually forgotten how powerful Harry probably was. He nodded in acknowledgment.

"I think that's all we can do today. Here is the letter for your mother and the mirror. She only needs to say my full name, Harry Potter, to activate it. But she is only to call me if she opposes my showing up there tomorrow. I don't want her to take any additional risks if she doesn't have to. If she does not contact me before 8:30pm I'll take that as the go-ahead and will meet with you both at 9."

Severus took the items and put them in his pocket. "All right, I'll see you tomorrow then?"

When Harry saw the hope and small smile on Severus' face, Harry couldn't help replying with a big smile of his own. "Of course and don't worry too much, things will turn out fine."

HPSSHPSSHPSS

Severus couldn't sleep. He was euphoric.

The first thing he had done after getting home was skim the first volume from the books Harry had given him, just like he had suggested. It hadn't been as bad as he had thought. In addition to what Harry had told him the only important changes where to his personality. It said that his possessiveness and protective instincts will increase in relation to anyone he considered family. All vampires were like this by nature and saw their family as belonging to them and in turn, belonging to their families. He didn't completely understand what that meant but it didn't sound like it was anything horrible. Having strong family ties cannot be bad no matter how you looked at it.

Still, on the other hand, the more Severus thought about what he had to tell his mother, the less he wanted to tell her. In the end, he spent hours turning about on his bed until he fell into a restless sleep, still unsure about what he would tell her or how.

_January 11_

The next morning after Tobias' rant concerning the poor quality of breakfast, Severus signaled to his mother that he needed to talk to her in private. She nodded discreetly and informed him through their own special hand signals to meet with her by the brook in an hour.

"Honey? What is it you needed to talk about?" Eileen asked her son as soon as she got there.

"Mom, have you ever heard of human-vampires?" Severus asked her while looking at a dead beetle by his feet.

"What? No…" She trailed off not sure what it was Severus was trying to get at.

"A human-vampire is born whenever a witch and wizard, carrying enough vampire genes, have a child that receives such genes from both of them. It is not exactly known how or why, but if the genes become active, the child then becomes what is known as a human-vampire."

Eileen was starting to get worried. Severus would have never brought this up out of simple curiosity; he was trying to make a point. She heard Severus sigh slowly and deeply.

"On the night of my birthday…something happened. I went to my special tree, you know, the one at the park… and I changed. I attacked someone. I felt so hungry and well…I-I'm a human-vampire."

Eileen sank to her knees flabbergasted, she didn't know what to say and then she realized just _what_ he had said. "Wait. Did you just say you attacked someone? What happened? Are they all right? Why didn't you tell me about this before?"

Severus then told her about Harry as quickly as he could, they were running out of time.

"So you are saying that this man is coming to see me tonight and I have no way to communicate with him?"

Severus really felt bad about lying, but he didn't want to risk her saying no and postponing everything even more. He trusted Harry and so will she once they had a chance to talk. He chose to ignore completely the little voice in the back of his head telling him he was doing something _really _stupid. For once, he was going to trust his instincts more than his intelligence and until something happened to change his opinion of Harry, he wasn't about to change his mind.

HPSSHPSSHPSS

Harry Potter checked out of the Leaky Cauldron at 8am that morning. He quickly made his way to the real state agent's office and was able to secure an appointment for an isolated 4 bedroom house with a potions lab, a garden, and a large kitchen at 6pm that same day. Right after that he quickly made his way to the Ministry of Magic.

"Excuse me, where do I inquire about wizarding examinations?" He asked at the information desk. The yawning teen witch told him to go to the 5th level and look for the sign opposite the International Magical Cooperation, 'Aptitude Examinations and NEWT Testing.'

After half an hour of waiting for a representative he was finally called forward. "Thank you for waiting. What can I do for you today?"

"I was informed that I need N.E.W.T. scores in order to get a respectable job in the wizarding world, is this information correct?"

The representative looked taken aback. "This is correct…Your accent makes me think you are British, how is it that you do not know about N.E.W.T.'s? You are a British wizard are you not?"

"Yes I am. However, I spent some childhood years in the U.S. I was there when I was informed I was a wizard. I'm muggle-born. When I returned, my guardians arranged for private tutors to control my magic but I had never considered living in the wizarding world until now. I wish to take my N.E.W.T.'s, today if possible." Harry said with calm authority.

The testing representative was looking at him wide-eyed by the time Harry finished speaking. It wasn't everyday a self-proclaimed muggle-born acted with such confidence in front of a Ministry official. He sat there so long that Harry cleared his throat to get his attention once more.

"…Yes. Are you registered with the British Ministry or under the American? You are an adult, correct?

"Yes, I'm 19. I am not registered at either Ministry."

"Due to your age and muggle-born status you will need to register through the use of 'Blood-Linage.' Do you need me to explain what it is?"

"No."

"After you are done with that you can make an appointment with us to take your N.E.W.T.'s. Standard waiting time: 6 weeks." He informed him with a fake smile, obviously waiting for Harry to leave.

Harry frowned and leaned forward in a subtly intimidating manner. "Unacceptable. I need to get this done today. Do you or do you not have expedited services?"

"Yes…but I would advice you study before taking your exams. The results will be critical to your future and expedited services cost 35 Galleons. It is really not in your best interest to-"

Harry interrupted smoothly. "I accept the charges, is it possible to get registered here while I wait for my tests to be arranged?"

The representative was gaping at him. Harry had counted three cavities by the time he started speaking again. "Yes. Sure. I mean, it's not a problem."

While the registration was taking place he came to the realization that muggle-born prejudice was worse he remembered. The representative kept trying to treat him like an ignorant muggle and acted surprised that Harry could actually pay the equivalent of a full month's salary to take exams that would otherwise be free of charge. He also noticed that he wasn't informed that he could take the O.W.L.'s instead, N.E.W.T.'s were only required for Ministry officials, not even all Hogwarts professors had tried to take them.

Once registration had been taken care of they finally moved on to the tests. "Which N.E.W.T.'s will you be taking? You need a minimum of four."

"Defense Against the Dark Arts, Divination, Care of Magical Creatures, Muggle Studies, and Transfiguration."

The representative nodded while tapping a light blue parchment with his wand. "Follow me please. You will be taking Muggle Studies first, there is no practical for this subject. I'll take you to your next exam as soon as you are done with this one. You will have your scores an hour after your last test."

Out of the five tests he took only DADA and Transfiguration had theory and practical components. Divination only consisted of a practical and CMC surprisingly, was only theory. In the end, he left the Ministry of Magic at 5:56pm with good marks:

(_NA_: Not Applicable , _O_: Outstanding , _EE_: Exceeds Expectations)

_theory _/ _practical _

Defense Against the Dark Arts: O / EE

Care of Magical Creatures: O / NA

Muggle Studies: O / NA

Transfiguration: EE / O

Divination: NA / O

He was starving by then. The exams weren't all that strenuous to him but they did work up an appetite. Unfortunately, he didn't have time for that. He needed to get a house first and foremost. Besides, he had plenty of experience with hunger; both from growing up with the Dursleys and from the rigors of war.

He barely made it to his real state agent's office a little after 6. "I apologize for my tardiness. I was delayed at the Ministry longer than I had planned."

"It is quite all right. You are my last client of the day. Now…unfortunately, I was only able to find two houses that meet your specifications on such short notice." The middle-aged gentleman replied, getting straight to business.

"The first one is a two story house…" He quickly described the two houses and their locations. In the end Harry chose to go see the one near Hogsmead. No matter how it looked, he'll take it. Even if he had to move out later on, it was a good idea to own a house near Hogwarts. He side-apparated with the realtor to check it out. It was a spacious single story house.

The kitchen towards the back of the house was beautiful with a built-in white marble table in the center, big enough to easily accommodate five people. Aside from a back door leading to the garden, the rest of the kitchen was made up of white cabinets, half of them with unbreakable glass doors, nicely done with beautiful silver handles. The stove and oven where white and silver as well, the oven big enough for a 16lb turkey but it was so well incorporated to the kitchen wall that it was almost invisible. Finally, the sink was made from the same marble as the table with polished silver faucets.

The four bedrooms were spacious, all of them of equal size and with built-in closets. A rarity, since most wizarding folk preferred to use magical trunks to store their clothing. There was only one bathroom though, complete with an extra-large bathtub and a separate shower stall with sliding glass doors (unbreakable of course). Finally, the basement was a standard potions lab with stone surfaces and ingredient cabinets with glass doors, everything made without magic. But unlike the rest of the house, which seemed to follow an overall white motif, the basement was made in somber colors: dark stone and dark brown wood.

Outside, 30 feet away from the house and garden, the perimeter was surrounded by trees on all sides. The façade faced a footpath leading to Hogsmead or the Forbidden Forest depending on direction. The house was about a 15minute brisk walk from both.

All in all, Harry was more than satisfied. He signed the needed paperwork and paid 400 Galleons for the house. Once alone in his new home Harry conjured an easy chair and sat down to rest a moment before had had to meet with Severus' mother; he just wanted a few moments before handling _that_ hurdle.

**

* * *

Chapter 5:** Becoming Acquainted

_January 11_

Promptly at 9pm Harry apparated silently to the Snape's front door, wand at the ready. He then knocked twice, firmly.

"What the hell do you want this time of night!" A drunken Tobias answered the door with a bottle of whiskey in one hand and his wand in the other. Harry quickly cast a powerful sleeping charm on him and walked inside as Tobias fell over backwards. Harry almost rolled his eyes at the man's incompetence.

"You came!" He heard Severus call out and turned to see him being followed by a very nervous looking Eileen Snape, grasping her wand.

"Hello Severus. Madam." He nodded politely.

"Where do you want him placed Mrs. Snape?"

Eileen cringed. "Is he all right?"

Harry blinked. "Of course. He's merely asleep, just like I explained in my letter."

"Letter?" She asked confused and they both turned to a very edgy looking Severus.

"I'm sorry all right. Here, you can read it now." Harry glared lightly at him while he waited for Eileen to finish reading and Severus glared right back, unrepentant.

"Well, this explains a few things." Eileen said more calmly but Harry noticed she didn't let go of her wand just yet neither. "The sitting room is straight ahead on your right; please put him on the couch."

Harry levitated Tobias with a silent wave of his wand and did as she requested.

"Please follow Severus to the kitchen." Harry remained silent as Eileen followed behind him and took the seat Severus offered him at the kitchen table.

"Thank you, Severus, Mrs. Snape."

"Eileen, please."

"Eileen. Are you familiar with the globe of truth spell?"

"Yes, I am." Eileen answered a bit hesitant.

"What I am about to tell you will be hard for anyone to believe so I request that you cast it on us in order to work this out with as little difficulty as possible."

Eileen glanced at Severus, surprised by the request, but relaxed a bit more as Severus gave her an encouraging nod. Eileen raised her wand and performed the spell. Harry then slowly placed his wand on the table and ignored Eileen's tightening grip on her own wand.

"I met Severus the night before yesterday, in less than ideal circumstances I admit…I'm assuming he explained that part already?...Good. When I met him I realized that he didn't know what had happened to him and I also deduced from his tattered clothes and malnourished appearance that he was not in a good family situation… Call it a hunch if you will. When I met with him again last night my hunch was confirmed when I saw his bruised jaw and depressed demeanor. To make a long story short, he told me about your situation and I would like to offer my help."

"Mr. Potter…We are both adults and we both know that people don't just help others out of the goodness of their hearts, especially in this time and age. What is it that you really want from us?" She asked trying to keep her sight on the hand nearest his wand and the globe at the same time.

"I want to help you and Severus get out of this situation… for both of you to be happy. I admit I'm no guardian angel, but neither is it my intention to hurt, mislead, or use either of you in anything nefarious." Eileen's eyes widened as the globe in the middle of the table remained white.

"Why?" She asked in a small voice.

"My reasons are complicated and I won't tell you all of them but believe me when I say that I know what it is like to be trapped in a situation you can do nothing about. I want to help and I have the means to do it." Harry answered gently but with confidence.

Silence enveloped the room until it was broken by Harry's stomach giving a long, very painful sounding growl.

Severus looked at Harry in question, amused by Harry's light blush.

"Sorry about that. It's been a long day and I haven't had time to eat today." He quickly continued before Eileen could say anything. "Don't worry about it. I'll take care of this later."

Harry then noticed her looking at him with an indecipherable expression on her face. "Would you like to ask me something? Whatever it is, I promise I'll do my best to answer without taking offense."

Eileen turned to look at the globe. "Do you really wish to help us without requiring _anything_ in exchange for your aid?"

"I truly want to help you and no, I don't require anything in exchange." Harry assured her and Severus went to hug his mother when she broke down sobbing.

"He truly means it, mom. I didn't believe him at first either, but the globe can't be wrong."

"Excuse me, I'm sorry to interrupt," Harry said, noticing Severus' overly pale complexion. "Did Severus get to feed today?"

Eileen blushed in indignation. "I don't have a lot but I always make sure he eats something at least twice a day!"

"That's not what I meant, madam. Severus needs to feed on _blood _twice a day."

Eileen blanched and Severus turned his face away from her. "Severus didn't mention it, and it didn't really occur to me, I figured it was a one time thing…I thought human-vampires were different somehow."

"I didn't know how to tell you," Severus said in a low voice. Eileen looked to Harry in supplication, not knowing what to say.

"Severus, I know this is new to you and very unusual. But believe me, you have nothing to be ashamed of. I have only ever fed one other vampire and we both saw it as something he needed and that I was able to provide. You are a vampire now and feeding on blood is completely normal. In time you will come to realize this as well." Severus remained by his mother's side but nodded in understanding.

"Ma'am, I don't mean to be offensive but how long has it been since either of you have had regular, adequate meals?"

Eileen kept her gaze on the table in front of her and cleared her throat. "Since before Severus was born at least."

"I see…in that case I don't think it would be sensible for you to feed Severus in the next few months. However, until then it will probably be a good idea to be present during feeding; to help you become used to the idea."

Eileen gave her son a gentle squeeze around the waist and agreed. "Yes, that sounds like a good idea. Will you be feeding him now?"

Harry quickly arranged for another feeding like yesterday's. Eileen watched in fascination but could not help feeling slightly revolted at the same time. She knew that she would need to 'feed' her son at some point. The thought of having her son drinking her blood was disturbing, though now that she saw it being done it didn't look as bad as she would have thought.

"Thank you, I was really hungry." Severus told Harry when he finished with a satisfied expression and returned to his seat once more.

"I was wondering how you were planning to help us?" Eileen asked Harry after he finished healing his wrist, a little curious about how far this young man would go to help them.

"I have a proposal. All I need is your approval and cooperation. The first thing we need to do is for you to divorce Tobias." Eileen frowned.

"Please let me just lay it all out and then we can change whatever you don't approve of, all right?" Eileen agreed but didn't look happy about it.

"You have grounds for divorce because of the domestic abuse and neglect. Your memories will be more than enough proof to secure its approval. As soon as that's done, I will marry you right there and then. Let me make this very clear: It will strictly be a marriage of convenience. You don't even have to take my name, you and Severus can use 'Prince' if you wish. I only want to marry you so that I have the legal right to protect you and Severus if/or when Tobias comes after you. I have already purchased a house for us near Hogsmead that I think will be adequate for our needs. It is lacking furniture and everything but I didn't want to get anything you wouldn't like, so I decided to wait for your opinion before I went shopping. As your husband I will also assume all responsibility for your welfare. Naturally, shelter, food, clothing, and a monthly allowance are all a given. But I do have one particular quirk…"

Eileen and Severus were sitting completely dumbfounded. Never in their wildest dreams had they imagined anything like what Harry was telling them. Whatever that quirk was, they knew that it couldn't be anything that would harm them so it didn't matter what it was, they would accept it.

"I like to cook. Cooking is a favorite past time of mine and I like to cook whenever I can. You can still cook if you wish or if you don't like my cooking but I just wanted to warn you. I'll probably be in the kitchen a lot. Will that be a problem?"

Severus was in shock. "That's your quirk…to cook? But that's women's work…or a house elf's!"

Eileen covered her face with her hands in embarrassment and Harry looked amused at Severus' earnest proclamation.

"If we are to live under the same roof I think you should know that my views are extremely liberal. I don't believe on limitations based on gender, I support same-sex marriages, and I hate the werewolf registration act." Severus and Eileen looked at each other sideways, not knowing how to react to that. But they both knew Harry's offer was too good to pass up just because their benefactor had weird views on gender roles and whatnot.

"That's fine, we can accept that I think. Nor do I find anything wrong with your plan, but are you sure you have enough money for what you propose?"

"More than sure. I wouldn't have proposed it unless I was certain I could do it." The globe still remained white.

"The spell I placed Tobias under will last 24 hours or more, so we are free to do all this tomorrow if you are ready."

Eileen found no point on putting off the divorce. Harry seemed sincere and she couldn't let an offer like this pass up. Waiting won't change anything of importance other than prolong her suffering and her son's. "Well, I don't mind, but do you realize I'm almost old enough to be your mother? I'm used to being the topic of gossip, so I don't care, but in your case…"

Eileen trailed off once she realized what she was saying. Severus choked on a laugh and Harry just looked at her.

She flushed.

"I guess that was a foolish question." Eileen admitted. If a man was secure enough to admit liking to cook, he probably didn't care much for society gossip either.

"I will come here to pick both of you up tomorrow morning at 8:30. Pack only things of sentimental value. I'll be taking you both shopping for essentials after we finish at the Ministry. We can buy everything else we need later on." Eileen and Severus saw Harry to their door soon after and they hugged each other in happiness when they were alone once more.

Whatever…whoever, this man was…he was the answer to their prayers. It was all up to fate from here on, but they had faith that their luck had just turned for the better.

HPSSHPSSHPSS

_January 12_

Harry picked them up at 8:30am as arranged and they went straight to the Ministry. They spoke very little. Harry kept silent as was his usual habit in public places and Eileen and Severus were too nervous about what was going to happen to bother with idle chitchat. Eileen especially, she was seeing this side of Harry for the first time and it made her a feel a little bit nervous to see him looking so unapproachable.

Once at the Ministry they took the lift to Level 2, Department of Magical Law Enforcement; Office of Family Law & Procedures. A young woman sitting by the office entrance welcomed them. "Good morning. Are you all together?"

"Yes." Harry answered evenly.

"Please take a seat and we'll call you as soon as one of our officers is available. Your name please?"

"Harry Potter."

"We'll be calling you momentarily."

They all took a seat and Harry was pleasantly surprised when Severus chose to sit next to him, their arms and thighs touching. No one would have seen anything extraordinary in such a gesture, bur for Severus, who was such a reserved individual that rarely initiated physical contact, this seemingly innocuous act was beyond remarkable, especially after knowing him for such a short time.

Harry discreetly and gently squeezed Severus' arm in silent encouragement. Eileen smiled at the sight but didn't remark upon it.

They were called 10 minutes later.

"Good morning. I am Officer Marcellina Goldman, how may I help you today?"

Harry nodded at Eileen to answer.

"Good morning…W-we are here today to do a number of things, but first of all I need a divorce." Eileen replied after a slight hesitation.

"Well, you can certainly _file_ for divorce, is this gentleman your…" She asked, taking in Harry's young appearance with skepticism.

"No, no, no…My husband is not here today. He does not even know I'm here actually."

"Under what grounds do you…" The Officer began with obvious disapproval. Divorce was very unusual in the wizarding world and not well-looked upon. She trailed off however under Harry's glare and Eileen's muted answer, "Domestic abuse."

"I see," Officer Goldman said in a much softer tone. "I will need proof of abuse. Can you submit memories for a minimum of 5 different instances of abuse?" Eileen nodded with an audible swallow.

"Try to choose memories that show Severus at different ages. Otherwise, they might make you do it again." Harry said in a cool tone. He was more than familiar with the Ministry's wiles and didn't want to make Eileen have to go through that again just because they couldn't tell if all the memories were truly from different occasions.

"Excuse me sir, but why exactly are you here?" She questioned Harry tersely.

"I'm her future husband." Harry answered just as coolly as before and Severus glowered at her in reproach.

She nodded sharply at him and retrieved a pensieve. After helping Eileen place her memories within it and looking through them herself, a paler looking Goldman approved the divorce. She then asked them if there was anything else they needed after finishing up the paperwork.

"Yes, I would like to marry Eileen…now." Harry said firmly but in a polite enough tone.

Goldman's right eyelid twitched. "There are blood tests required before…"

Harry cut her off, "I am muggle-born, the requirement does not apply." This time a vein visibly throbbed at her temple and Harry toed Severus under the desk to get him to quit smirking.

"Is this truly what you wish, Ms. Prince?" She asked Eileen.

"Yes, please."

Once the marriage paperwork was ready she asked Eileen if she wanted to keep her maiden name or take on Harry's. When Eileen said she wanted to keep 'Prince,' Severus piped in, "I want to change my name to 'Prince' as well."

"I'm sorry but you are Mr. Snape's only heir. Even though he has lost his legal claim over you as well as all visitation rights, unless he disinherits you, you are still the only Snape heir. You can only refuse once you reach legal independence, at 17. Though you cannot discard the Snape name for now, you can add 'Prince' as a secondary family name. You may also change your first and middle names if you wish."

"All right. I'll keep Severus but there is no way I'm keeping Tobias as a middle name. I don't need one. Just Severus Snape Prince is fine. And if people think that Snape is my middle name I'm not going to bother correcting them." Severus grumbled and crossed his arms in emphasis. Harry thought Severus looked quite adorable, though Eileen's exasperated sigh told him she disagreed.

The paperwork was finally done an hour later and Harry said as they finished, "I have one more item I need you to arrange for me today. I would like to name Severus my sole heir…and no, he's not required to take my name to claim his inheritance."

This time, both the eyelid twitched, _and_ the vein throbbed. "Please fill out these forms and Gringotts will be receiving their copy by the end of the week."

They were able to leave the Ministry by midday and Harry took them to a vegetarian Chinese restaurant for lunch. They had a pleasant meal and Harry and Severus left to the restroom for Severus to feed before leaving.

On their way back they ran into Harold Potter in the hallway, an event Harry had known would happen but still surprising in its rapidity.

It was like looking at an older, more masculine version of Harry. Harold was a middle-aged man with light blue eyes and shoulder length hair tied back at the base of the neck. Harry tried to walk by with a polite acknowledgment but Harold was not satisfied with that.

"Excuse me; I don't believe we have met before."

"No, we have not."

"Harold Potter; pleasure to meet you." Harold said with a small bow.

"Likewise. Harry Potter…but if you'll excuse us we are running late." Harold was too stunned by Harry's last name to protest his departure.

"I thought you were muggle-born?" Severus asked confused, noticing the resemblance.

"I am and you know I didn't lie to you. It's just a coincidence; a passing likeness." Severus wasn't really convinced but let it go at that so he asked Harry what they were gong to do next instead.

"Diagon Alley." Harry answered him with a grin.


	2. Chapters 6 to 10

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Harry Potter; None of the original story and/or characters are mine in any way nor do I make any money from these writings.

**PLEASE READ**: It has been brought to my attention that I have been a bit ambiguous with my explanations. Harry did not just travel to the past, he is also in an alternate reality. In his original time-line/reality Snape was NOT a human-vampire. In fact, there is a very good reason why Severus _becomes _a human-vampire in _this _reality, but this reason won't come up for a while yet.

Hope this clears things up a bit. Enjoy!

**A Chance at Life**

**Chapter 6**: A New Home

_January 15_

Severus still thought there was something going on with Harry's look-alike but he knew Harry wouldn't tell him, so he didn't pursue it. He had too much going on right now.

The last two days had been an extended, exhausting, shopping spree. He never would have thought that buying things could be so tiring but after two days of it he was ready to barricade himself in his room. But it was all worth it to see their home take shape.

He truly thought of Harry's house as _his_ home, not just Harry's. Home was something he had never really had before, but now, he truly felt he had one. Not so much because the house was clean and beautiful, but because of the people in it. He saw his mother truly being happy. He didn't have to worry about her or spend most of his time hiding from Tobias or dread the thought of spending his time in the house.

Harry always made sure that Severus and his mother were happy, comfortable, and that they ate well. Even Noodle was great, always looking after all three of them in his own way. With all the shopping they had been doing they had not been able to eat at home but Harry always took them to a restaurant no matter where they were.

And Harry was the one that gave him all this. He was always there. He never ignored him or told him to go away. Harry answered his questions and cared for him…and he only smiled at Severus and his mother, no one else. It made Severus feel special, happy to have what he saw as the 'real' Harry to themselves.

Severus finally knew what it was like to have a good family, a good home…a good life.

HPSSHPSSHPSS

Harry woke up pleasantly well rested. He should have never complained about Hermione being a picky shopper, she didn't hold a candle to Eileen. Though he had to admit, she had done a great job furnishing and decorating the house.

Harry stretched, made sure his Occlumency shields were secure, and left the bed; it was time to clean himself up. He then made his way to the kitchen feeling a bit excited. It was his first time cooking at home and he was really looking forward to breaking in the kitchen.

He made buttermilk and chocolate chip pancakes, scrambled eggs, crispy bacon, freshly cut fruit, breakfast tea and coffee; nothing fancy but hopefully something that everyone would like. He also made lunch, knowing he won't have time to make it later.

"Wow, you really cooked." Severus said yawning as he entered the kitchen after Eileen.

"Good morning you two. Sleep well?" Harry asked smiling.

"Yes, I think knowing that we finally have everything we need and will not have to go shopping again probably has something to do with it."

Harry laughed good naturedly understanding the sentiment, he hated shopping. "I forgot to ask you if there was anything you hated to eat. If you don't like anything you see here, let me know what you would like instead and I'll make it if I can."

Eileen smiled sadly. "We are not the picky kind." Severus nodded in agreement and they sat down to eat. Severus quickly grabbed two chocolate chip pancakes and smothered them in syrup while Harry called Noodle to breakfast.

"Noodle, good morning. Dig in; I'm sure you are as tired of restaurant food as we are by now."

"You bought your house-elf restaurant food?" Eileen asked.

"Yes, I always ordered two sets of whatever I ate. I just had to call Noodle to come pick them up." Harry answered casually and didn't notice Severus looking at him with warm amusement.

"Thank you, Master Harry."

"Just Harry, remember. How was your day yesterday?" Harry listened to Noodle's answer as he got some fruit and started eating. He was not one for big breakfasts but was happy to see everyone eating with enjoyment.

"Noodle is almost done setting up the potions lab; will be starting with the garden today."

"That's good. Make sure you take it easy and remember that you can visit your family if you don't have anything to do here. I know we are not a big household." Eileen and Severus were stunned at that; they had never even wondered where house-elves came from, much less if they had families.

"What about you two, is Severus starting his lessons again today or tomorrow?"

"Today. It's a good day to remain indoors. It was snowing hard all of last night." Eileen answered.

"Finally! I really want to read those new books we got," Severus said around a mouthful of pancake.

"Don't talk with your mouth full." Eileen and Harry admonished at the same time, Severus just rolled his eyes and kept eating.

They all continued chatting lightly, until a Gringotts owl dropped off Harry's bank statement in his plate towards the end of breakfast. Harry wiped his hands on a napkin and opened it, frowning lightly as he read it.

Eileen and Severus exchanged worried glances.

"Is something the matter?" Eileen inquired.

"No, I just spent a lot more than I had anticipated." Harry replied distractedly. There was a moment of silence and then Eileen spoke again tentatively. "I can take a part time job."

"You wish to pursue a career?" Harry asked still reading.

"No. I mean…I can help earn money for…" She ground to a halt we Harry focused his gaze on her. She had never seen him so intense, like there was something underneath the surface just beyond her reach. She felt very small all of a sudden.

"I was simply answering your question, it was not a reproach. I assure you, in the very unlikely event that I'm ever unable to provide for you I will make it known to you without delay…Excuse me, I have a few things to take care of. Enjoy your breakfast." Harry said it all as emotionlessly as possible but he couldn't help feeling a little hurt. He knew it was foolish to expect them to trust him to keep his word so soon, but her question had stung nonetheless.

He went to his bedroom and stripped to his boxers. He had just pulled on a black pair of pajama pants when he heard his bedroom door open. He had the last bedroom in the hallway so he had not bothered to fully close his door yet since he needed to call Noodle before he got started. With the lack of much work around the house, Noodle had taken to walking places instead of popping in and out all the time.

"Harry, I wanted to apologize..." she stopped with a gasp.

"Your back......Merlin, what happened? Do they hurt?" Eileen asked worriedly as she made her way to him and Harry turned to face her fully. She had seen the scars from the final battle. They were still an angry red, being so recent, and Harry had never been able to heal wounds with minimal scaring like Madam Pomfrey. His back was the worst from Malfoy's slashing curses. His chest wasn't as bad with only 3 deep scars across his chest and ribs. He had gotten those from Hogwarts' spiked gate, Voldemort always did have a gift for improvisations; anything could become a weapon in his hands.

"I'm fine. It will just take a while for them to fade. Severus, you might as well come in. I know you are there." Harry called out the door, knowing that Severus was listening in. He came in looking half guilty and part worried as he carefully looked over what he could see of Harry's body.

"Truly, they're not as bad as they look. They're just ugly." Harry reassured them and did a quick glamour spell to hide them.

"They're not ugly! Who hurt you?!" Severus demanded. He had never seen Harry looking like this: self-conscious and hurt. His Harry was not supposed to be hurt!

"It doesn't matter…" Harry said soothingly.

"But..!" Severus tried to protest in indignation.

"It's part of a past I have left behind. Don't worry; no one will be coming after you because of me. Now, if you could please let me get finished here..." Harry said and pushed them out the door.

Outside, Eileen and Severus were left gaping at the closed door in concerned annoyance.

HPSSHPSSHP

Inside, Harry put on a black sleeveless undershirt and called Noodle. It was time to get started.

"Hold on a second." He told him when he walked in. He then locked the door and placed a privacy charm on his room.

"I need you to help with something. Can you get me at least 10, 1L plastic storage bags, do you know what I'm talking about?"

"Yes, Noodle can." While Noodle was gone Harry quickly retrieved his remaining blood replenishing potions and nutrition potions. He also transfigured a stainless steel blood transfusion needle and conjured rubber tubing.

When Noodle returned he stared wide-eyed at everything Harry was doing. He had sterilized the room and enlarged his bedside table to place the transfusion needle, tubing, and the bags Noodle brought.

"Mas…Harry…?" Noodle questioned uncertainly.

"I have only done this once before, with the help of a wizard. I need you to help me…and in case something goes wrong." By now Noodle was wringing his hands in worry. "I'm sure nothing will go wrong, but better safe than sorry. If I pass out and you can't wake me up call Eileen immediately, but don't let her take me to St. Mungos, no matter how bad I look." Harry lay on his bed with his wand in his hand and finished making the final preparations.

"I have transfigured these bags into blood packs. They are sterilized but I need you to place them under preservation charms, your magic is stronger than mine so it's best if you do it. As each one fills up with blood I want you to control the flow and stop every two bags. I will need to take a blood replenishing potion and a nutrition potion before we continue once again."

"Harry, why must you be doing this?" Noodle asked, not liking what his master was doing.

"It is not healthy to take blood replenishing positions daily, over time they have a weakening affect on the blood. If I keep taking them as I have, my blood will not be healthy enough for Severus to drink. It is better if I do this once a week instead. Blood potions were made to be taken in large quantities, but not for prolonged periods of time, especially not for daily use. I will only need to do this until Eileen is well enough to feed Severus as well. This way I can feed Severus three times a week without taking potions and he can drink from the packs the rest of the time."

Noodle understood but wasn't happy about it. It looked painful.

They kept repeating the procedure until lunch time. They had to keep waiting for the potions to take effect before continuing and Harry had to fight the nausea they produced after the first time.

When Noodle left to set up lunch for Severus and Eileen, Harry was left to sleep, exhausted.

HPSSHPSSHP

"Noodle, do you know where Harry is? He didn't eat much breakfast." Eileen asked. She wanted to take the opportunity to apologize before they ate. She felt guilty about hurting his feelings, both with her question and for bursting into his room like that. Severus had been mad at her all morning for making Harry think his scars were ugly.

Eileen had never seen Severus so incensed on someone else's behalf. On one hand she was happy because it meant her son was starting to open up to someone other than her. But on the other hand, deep down, she was still afraid that Harry might betray them somehow, and if that happened it would truly tear Severus apart.

"Master Harry be sleeping. He said he will be here for dinner." Noodle told her before bowing and popping away. Lunch was delicious, just like breakfast. But neither Eileen nor Severus had much appetite. This was the first meal they had by themselves since Harry took them in and it felt wrong without him. They had not realized how much they had gotten used to Harry's presence in the last few days.

It was lonely without him.

Noodle popped in with a message for Severus as they were finishing their meal. "Master Harry says Master Severus can come to his room to feed after lunch."

Severus nodded and Eileen saw him off afterward. She was always present during feedings but she had not been invited this time, so she chose not to intrude.

HPSSHPSSHP

Severus had been worried about Harry the whole morning. He had enough experience hiding his own feelings to know that Harry had been hurt by his mother's offer to work. He also wanted to know who had hurt him so bad. He had seen the scars on his back reflected on the mirror behind Harry that morning, along with the scars on his chest that looked just as new. The scars on his forearms and the one on his forehead looked faded, much older, but they still worried him. He wanted to know more about Harry, like Harry knew about them.

When he got admitted to Harry's room, it was unusually dark. The curtains were drawn and Harry was sitting atop his made bed. He was still wearing the same pajama pants as this morning, but now with a long sleeved shirt, which was weird since Harry always wore muggle t-shirts, even under his robes.

The feeding wasn't as satisfying as usual. Although he always thought Harry's blood to be delicious, this time it didn't seem as flavorful somehow. Harry didn't talk more than strictly necessary and told him that they would see each other again at dinner before sending him on his way once more.

Severus felt troubled; he had never known Harry to sleep during the day. Nor had Harry ever been so silent when they weren't in public, not even when they had first met. But he didn't have the courage to bother him when he obviously wanted go back to sleep. Severus left subdued, deciding to wait until Harry woke up again to question him.

HPSSHPSSHP

Harry woke up again at 4:30 to make dinner, but he was feeling a lot more tired than he had anticipated. When he got to the kitchen he found Noodle waiting for him and Severus and Eileen having some tea.

"Harry! Are you all right?" Eileen asked him as soon as she got a good look at him.

Though Harry was naturally pale, at the moment he knew he was sporting too close a resemblance to Jack Skellington.

"Master Harry should go back to bed. Noodle will take care of dinner." Noodle put in as well. Harry arched an eyebrow but didn't bother fighting with a determined house-elf. He really didn't feel like cooking right now anyway.

"I'm fine. I just need to rest a little more." He said with a small smile and ruffled Severus' hair on his way out. He didn't like to see Severus' with that worried expression on his face.

For her part, Eileen was trying to contain her bewilderment, Severus hated for people to touch his hair, including her. But he wasn't even looking at her right now. He was pinning Noodle to the spot with a predatory look on his face.

"What do you know?" Severus demanded.

"K-Know?"

"You were ready for Harry to come in looking like he did. Why is he so tired and pale?"

"Noodle, please, if you know, tell us. We are worried about him." Eileen added, before Severus lost his temper and made things worse.

"Master is tired because of something he did." He fidgeted uncomfortably for a moment before nodding determinedly to himself. "Come please." Noodle took them to the magically expanded kitchen pantry. He showed him the blood packs, carefully stored as Harry had requested.

"This is Harry's blood? But why?" Eileen asked, almost whispering.

"Master Harry said it was bad to drink potions everyday. Mistress should ask Master Harry. Noodle is no good saying things well."

Eileen turned to Severus to say something but he wasn't there.

Severus was on his way to Harry's room. He wanted to understand: how could Harry do such a thing to himself? He rather starve than see Harry in such a state.

"Harry," he called, knocking on his door.

"Come in."

The curtains were still drawn and Harry was sitting up on his bed once again, yawning.

"Did you need something?...Eileen, come in, did something happen?" Harry asked when he saw Eileen standing outside his door as well.

"Bleeding yourself dry like that…how did you do it without killing yourself? Harry, _why_ did you do it?"

"Take a seat, both of you." Harry motioned them to the foot of the bed but Severus removed his house slippers and climbed up to sit crossed-legged beside him instead. Harry smiled at him; it was nice to see Severus acting his age.

"Eileen, you cannot feed Severus yet, you know this. Both you and Severus lived on an inadequate diet for many years. It isn't safe for you to feed Severus until you've had a chance to recover. For Severus, healthy blood is essential at this early stage, as well as regular feedings. I cannot keep feeding him as I have without hurting both of us in the long run. By limiting my intake of blood replenishing potions to once a week, we keep my blood healthy and simultaneously ensure a healthy blood supply for Severus."

"But I don't mind feeding once a day. Or maybe if I try really hard, every other day." Severus offered.

"Oh Sev," Harry said softly, truly touched by the offer. "The important thing is to keep _all _of us healthy. The blood packs help us accomplish that. True, the process is very uncomfortable and time consuming, but it is not overly dangerous. I will be completely recovered come tomorrow morning, you'll see."

"I still don't like it." Eileen said with a frown. "When will I be able to feed him?"

"In 8-9 weeks, at the earliest."

"In 8 weeks I will start feeding Severus, then. Two months is more than enough time to regain my strength... I _will_ do this whether you want me to or not." She declared with a stubborn set of her chin. Harry shook his head and chuckled. He knew better than to fight against a woman using that tone of voice.

Harry then turned to look at Severus, who he noticed was running a finger up and down over the fabric on Harry's forearm. Harry was still wearing his long-sleeved pajama top.

"Harry…why do you hide your scars from us?" Severus asked, looking at him with a sad expression on his face.

"Severus!" Eileen called out in a scolding tone.

"I…" Harry didn't know what to say, he hadn't expected that question. He had never really used glamour spells before since Ron and Hermione had not cared about the scars and he did not care about what anyone else might have thought. But he had not wanted for Severus and Eileen to see them, they were not used to seeing battle scars in half the people they met like he was.

"We wouldn't make fun of you or anything. You don't have to hide them." Severus said in a reassuring tone.

Harry swallowed. "It's not that. I know how they look. They are not something people would like to see everyday. There is no reason why either of you should have to look at them when a simple glamour takes care of the problem easily enough."

Severus put his whole hand on Harry's forearm. "There is no problem. We are not _people_, we're your fam-friends."

"Indeed, Harry. I am sure my sensibilities can survive looking at your scars. Or do you truly think me so shallow?" Eileen asked with pretend indignation.

"Okay, Okay," Harry chortled. "I know when to stop protesting."

Eileen got up and patted his hand. "Truly, Harry, we just want you to be comfortable with us. We will still like you, no matter what you look like or how many scars you get."

Severus leaned towards Harry a little but stopped himself halfway and shook his head cutely. The motion reminded Harry of a puppy.

"Sleep. But if you still look half dead tomorrow morning, we're taking you straight to St. Mungo's. Good night." Severus jumped off the bed, put on his slippers and left with a wave of his hand as he went out the door.

Harry and Eileen looked at each other, amused at hearing such an edict from an eight-year-old boy. Things were starting look up for their little family.

* * *

AN: Though Harry didn't get to actually eat much during the war, he always had nutrition potions, so he considers himself healthy enough to feed Severus.

**

* * *

Chapter 7**: A Misunderstanding

_January 24, 1968_

"Are we still going to Honeydukes today?" Was Severus' greeting that morning.

"Good morning to you as well," Eileen said dryly while Harry laughed.

"Of course, just like I promised. We'll go after I get back." Harry assured him as Severus spread ketchup over his omelet.

Harry saw Severus' frown at this answer, but figured that he was simply unhappy about having to wait until later. In truth, however, this was not the case at all. It was true that Severus had never been promised enough candy to last a week before but he knew how to wait. The problem came from Severus' feelings of insecurity.

By this time their household had been more or less fully established. Severus had read both volumes of _Born a Human-Vampire: A Guide_ and Eileen had read the _Parent's Guide_ in depth. Both had their questions answered by Harry when they didn't understand something, that had been one of the first things they had taken care of. Severus had been especially happy to know that all vampires were legal adults at 15, when they were able to recognize their mates. He wasn't too crazy about the whole having a mate thing but Harry told him that he would see things differently when he grew up.

In the house, the potions lab had also been fully stocked and available for lessons, including actual potion making. Harry had made sure that they had every potion's ingredients imaginable, so now Eileen could teach Severus whatever she wanted without being limited by time or available ingredients.

They also made Harry's blood replenishing and nutrition potions. An arrangement that came to be after Severus' first full out temper tantrum.

It had all begun with Harry making a simple, innocent comment:

"I'll be going to the apothecary today, do you need anything?" Harry asked Eileen and Severus on his way out, who were working on basic arithmetic in the sitting room.

"No thank you, we are fully stocked." Eileen answered with an appreciative smile.

"What do you need from the apothecary? We almost bought the place out the last time we went." Severus asked in curiosity.

"I'm out of blood replenishing and nutrition potions. I need to arrange for weekly deliveries…"

"NO." Severus said firmly, throwing his quill on the writing table and standing up to pull Harry completely into the sitting room.

"Sev?" Harry asked in complete bewilderment, but not wanting to further intensify Severus' obvious discontent.

"Mom can make you any potion you could ever need." Severus said with confidence and started pulling off Harry's scarf and winter coat after making him sit on the couch.

"Severus," Harry said in as calming a tone as he could manage. "I don't doubt your mother's competence, but these potions are time consuming. It's more practical to have them delivered." He told him while taking Severus' hands in his own, trying to stop the tugging at his clothes.

Out of everything that could have happened, what did happen next took everyone by surprise.

Severus' black eyes narrowed and his whole face contorted into a mask of fury. He lost control of his fangs and they elongated to their full extent.

"NO!" He hissed at Harry through bared teeth. Eileen was rooted to her seat, muted by fascination.

"NO!" Severus screamed and stomped his foot when he saw Harry about to speak again. "You are not drinking potions made by some filthy old fool that probably barely passed his potions O.W.L with an _Acceptable_! If it's too much for mother then I can do them as well."

"Severus, honey, you don't know those potions yet." Eileen reminded him. He glared at her so hard Harry flinched in sympathy.

Severus pulled his hands away from Harry and grabbed him by a wrist instead; making sure that Harry couldn't go anywhere.

After that, it took Harry and Eileen another ten minutes to calm him down. In the end Harry and Eileen had to give in; neither able to make Severus give in to the idea.

Severus knew that Harry and his mother didn't understand why he couldn't allow Harry to drink potions made by someone he didn't trust. The only people he trusted were Harry and his mother. Something inside him reveled against such an idea. If his mother could make the potions they need then why risk taking someone else's? It was very simple to him; his family didn't _have_ to submit itself to possibly improperly prepared potions, so why should they want to?

This event however, marked a change in Harry's daily routine. Until then, Harry had spent every moment with them, unless he was sleeping or making those awful blood bags. The day after his outburst, Harry offered to start training Severus for dueling, well, Harry called it training, Severus just called it fun.

It consisted on charming the sitting room (after Noodle had cleared it off obviously) to fire little paint balls at them at random. Their goal was to spend an hour in there without getting hit. So far, Severus was horrible at it but it was really something to come out of there covered in all the colors of the rainbow and then see Harry walk off completely clean. Severus had never seen anyone move so gracefully before, Harry made it look so easy when it truly was anything but. According to Harry they were barely on the first level, with three more to go before taking it on blindfolded!

Severus couldn't picture himself every becoming that good but Harry had faith in him being ready by the time he starts Hogwarts.

All in all those lessons were not the trouble, but Harry's disappearances were. Their dueling training always takes place after dinner. However, ever since they started, Harry began leaving the house after breakfast and coming back a few hours before dinner. If he comes back in time for lunch he shuts himself in his bedroom until dinnertime. It was very frustrating for Severus.

At first, Severus didn't really mind it much. But as the days went by he started worrying about _why _Harry had started separate himself from them. The only thing that came to mind was that perhaps Harry didn't like him anymore. The day he had grabbed Harry to him from the apothecary he had hurt him. Severus had not noticed but his grip was stronger that that of a regular child. When he had let go he had seen the bruises his hand had made and apologized.

Harry had laughed it off and told him to take it as a good sign that he was growing into a healthy vampire. Severus had sworn right there and then that he would be more careful from then on. He didn't ever want to hurt Harry again, or his mother. But the more Harry kept away the more doubts Severus kept having about Harry's fondness for him.

So, a couple of days ago Severus had sneaked into Harry's room in search of a clue about where he was going everyday. He kept having nightmares about Harry leaving him because he had hurt him again; or telling him that he really was a monster and was going to find a normal child to help and live with. Harry had not changed the way he treated Severus or Eileen in any way, but Severus knew Harry well enough by now to reason that even if Harry disliked him he wasn't the type to be mean about it.

In the end, what he found in Harry's room was even worse than what he had thought. First, he had seen a journal on his bed but the repelling charm on it had been too strong for him to ignore. Then, he had found pieces of wood in different sizes and three small toys, seeming already carved from the same kind of wood. The toys were simple figurines: a centaur, a unicorn, and a tree. Severus knew they weren't for him. Harry had offered to buy him toys before but he had always refused, saying he was too old for toys and that he didn't even like them.

Perhaps that was the problem. Severus knew he was not a cute child, nor did he act very childish. Perhaps Harry had found someone else, a child that needed him and wasn't a vampire. The more Severus thought about it the more he feared Harry will leave him to live with a _nice_ child, one that was actually childlike.

Severus refused to let that happen.

He figured that if he could show Harry that he wouldn't hurt him again and that he did like childish things, like candy, then he would forget about the other child and want to stay with him once more; thus, his request to go to Honeydukes.

"Can't you stay home today? We can go to Honeydukes and maybe walk around town afterward." Severus tried to convince Harry not to leave again.

"I'm sorry I can't stay today, but I'll try to come back early." Harry told him as he finished his breakfast tea.

But Severus was not going to give up today. As soon as Harry left the table Severus left to get dressed and sneaked into his mother's room to borrow her spare wand for a minute. He left a note on her bed telling her he was going to be following Harry. He then cast a silencing charm on his boots and a chameleon charm on himself (charms his mother had taught him to hide from Tobias) before returning the wand.

As soon as he heard the front door close he slipped out the back door and followed Harry down the path with every single ounce of stealth he possessed. They walked for about 15 or 20 minutes until they were standing in front of some very scary looking trees. Severus then saw Harry removed his cloak and drop it off the path, just out of sight, before taking his wand from his holster and stepping into what Severus was fairly sure was the Forbidden Forest.

He was scared, but he was not about to go back empty handed and get punished for nothing, so he followed about ten feet behind, using the trees to hide as much as possible. He saw Harry walk on ahead, picking up fallen tree limbs and then throwing them back down again. After an hour of the same thing, Severus got bored, so he started looking around, glancing back to Harry every few minutes. If this truly was the Forbidden Forest, it was really overrated for such a boring place, in his opinion. And as he looked back to keep following Harry after watching something that had looked like a walking twig, he realized he was alone.

He spun around in a circle in panic, trying to figure out which direction Harry had gone but it all looked the same to him. He was surrounded by trees…….and eyes. That's when he noticed the giant spiders looking at him. He didn't know how they knew he was there, even with the chameleon charm, but whatever it was there was no mistaking the fact they had surrounded him.

Without a second thought Severus looked for the clearest path and _ran_.

Suddenly, a spider fell down from the trees in front of him, but Severus was running too fast to stop and he ran right between its hairy legs and into its huge swollen body. Both went tumbling down together, right through a hedge and down a small hill.

When Severus finally stopped, he was face down on the ground with his breath knocked out of him. He groaned in pain but quickly sat up when he heard the rustling sounds that surrounded him.

He was terrified and couldn't think of a single thing to do. Then he felt it……A sharp, burning pain spreading through his right arm.

"Harry!"

* * *

AN: Remember that Harry has gotten used to keeping his Occlumency shields to his highest capacity because of Severus, thus he was unable to sense Severus following him (and he was distracted, thinking, you'll see in the next chapter). =)

**

* * *

A Chance at Life** – Interlude 1

Harry's Journal - January 14, 1968

_I write in this journal because I feel I might go around the bend with all these thoughts in my head if I don't get them out somehow. I can never truly confide my past to anyone so this journal will be it in a way, it doesn't matter if it doesn't make sense, it's just for me after all..._

_Many times I have wondered why I was chosen by the fates to do the things I have. I have hated them, cursed them and resented them. Now, I find myself alone once more. Alone in a place that I know and yet is alien to me at the same time. When I first came here I wondered why I was here, but now it doesn't matter._

_I believe I am here for Severus. Whether he somehow brought me here or I was brought by some higher power is irrelevant. The man that I knew back home had been like a parent to me. I always trusted the old man to do what was best in regards to Tom but I knew I could not trust him with my life. _

_That__ man I could trust to look out for __me__, to see __me__ as I am, and tell me the truth no matter how awful it might be. He was there for me until he died protecting me. Now it's my turn and it's no sacrifice to take care of Sev; by making him my heir at least his financial future is now secure if I were to die unexpectedly. I am more than happy to do this and if this is selfish of me then so be it. I have already given most of my life for the 'greater good,' I can be selfish now if I want. _

_For the first time in my life I can choose what to do with my life. _

_I choose to be Harry, a muggle-born wizard with no past and no family. _

_I choose to be Severus' guardian & mentor for as long as he needs me. I choose to fight Voldemort of my own freewill, because I truly __have__ a choice. I choose this because I know that even if I die in this endeavor the future of the wizarding world will not die with me, and there will be others to take up the fight against Voldemort after me. My goal is simply for Severus to be able to lead a life of his own choosing, after that I will be able to die without regrets. _

_Whoever he chooses to follow I will be happy, because I will know he truly had a __choice__. _

_I realize that with this choice I have given up any chance of ever having a family of my own but that was a dream that died right along with Ginny. I will not risk trusting the wrong person or leaving a child of mine alone in this world to grow up like I did. I refuse to take that chance. _

_It is almost a given that I will die, I no longer have a power the he knows not (1)….and I have no wish to live for who knows for how long with my…gifts. I am not suicidal; I am simply extremely familiar with what I am up against. This time my life (and death) will not be a sacrifice prefigured by destiny… _

_I am simply another wizard now. Here, Severus will be my family until I die and then I will finally be free to rejoin my own. _

* * *

(1) He means the Hollows

AN: The man he's talking about is Severus Snape from his original timeline.

**

* * *

**

**Chapter 8: **Consequences

_January 24, 1968_

Life was good.

Harry had not had much to be so happy about in over a year, but here he was. Eileen and Severus were safe and Harry was making a good income with the Quidditch bets, his 'insight' combined with remembered statistics made for very good odds on his favor.

About a week ago, Harry had finally been able to begin his _real_ work. He had just wanted to make sure Eileen and Severus were settled in before he got started. In his original timeline the Forbidden Forest had been a weak point during Voldemort's attacks on Hogwarts. Voldemort had managed to secure the werewolves' alliance and the centaurs had refused to ally with Dumbledore.

Though Harry was able to establish a friendship with the centaurs they refused to interfere in the war. They helped Harry if he was personally in eminent danger but that was all. In their view, it was an insult that Dumbledore had only seeked an alliance with them when it became obvious they were losing the war. They saw it for the desperate plot it was to secure more warriors; not an alliance based on respect or recognition of equality. Harry agreed with them completely.

For all his talk of being the leader of the light Dumbledore clung to too many outdated ideas and customs when it came to dealing with magical beings. Indeed, Dumbledore always referred to centaurs and even Remus, as magical creatures. Harry never understood it.

So, his first order of business was to map out the Forbidden Forest, marking areas of danger, and begin friendly overtures with the centaurs. One advantage he had this time around was that he already understood their culture and how they thought because of his original friendship with them. One very crucial difference was their view of what magic should be used for. Their magic was different from that wielded by wizards. They had no need for wands and only those chosen to be wielders were ever taught to use it.

For them, magic was a gift that should only be used when necessary. The wizarding habit of using magic for every little thing was perceived as a weakness. As such, their magic was only used to ward their borders and healing. For Harry, getting to know and understand centaurian logic wasn't all that hard; being raised by muggles had made it so that Harry wasn't in the habit of being dependent on magic. He liked working with his hands and had plenty of experience containing his magic, from his summers with the Dursley's.

Once he started his excursions to the forest he made sure to remain on the lookout for utilizable wood. Centaurs were very respectful of the forest; they never cut down trees and only made use of fallen/broken limbs to work with. Harry did the same.

He planned to carve some toys for their little ones and some useful items for the adults, like cups and bowls. So far in his explorations Harry had yet to see or sense a centaur. He wasn't as lucky with the acromantulas though. With typical Potter luck, Harry had chosen to make his path right past their nest. The first few times he had walked by they had ambushed him. He had probably killed half the colony before they gave up.

Now, they let him pass undisturbed, though Harry knew they would attack him again if they ever saw the chance. At the moment, Harry had just passed the nest as silently and quickly as possible. He was planning to explore for another hour or so and surprise Severus by making it back home for lunch. They should have enough time between lunch and dinner to explore Hogsmead, maybe even go take a look at Hogwarts if he wanted to.

Severus had been acting a little clingy with him lately, perhaps this will help with whatever was bothering him. Harry wished he knew what the matter was but Severus had been trying too carefully not to give away his concern for him to think that Severus would wish to talk about it. As it was, Harry refused to use his ability on Severus, especially because he knew how intense the connection was between them. He now always had to keep his Occlumency shields to the maximum, since his standard shielding didn't work with Sev . He didn't want to invade Severus' emotions, even unintentionally, unless he absolutely had no other choice. It was just as he pondered what he should get for Eileen at Hogsmead (she doesn't like sweets) that he was forcefully overcome by a vision.

He stayed rooted to the spot willing the vision to become clearer. He faintly heard Severus saying something…calling his name... and then he was surrounded by trees...a forest...and....acromantulas.

Harry had never seen Severus looking so terrified; his eyes wide and his body trembling, almost on the verge of tears. Harry didn't waste time wondering how or why Severus ended up in the Forbidden Forest, he reacted. He lowered his Occlumency shields slightly and focused on Severus while summoning Gryffindor's sword and readying himself for battle.

Following his instincts, he blindly apparated to where he _felt_ Severus was. He was being guided completely by instinct but he had no other choice. He didn't know for sure if the vision had been an event about to happen, present, or future. But he was fairly sure he could still make it in time if he hurried.

He successfully apparated to the place he had seen in his vision, but he could not see Severus anywhere.

"Harry!" He quickly focused his attention in the cry's direction but still couldn't make out Severus' small form in the mass of writhing dark spiders' bodies.

"Let the child go." Harry commanded in an icy tone.

The acromantulas attacked.

Normally, Harry would have responded with wide-ranging sectumsembras and blasting curses along with releasing strong waves of magical bursts from his body to keep a safe perimeter around him. But without knowing Severus' specific location he could not do this without risking hurting him as well. Nor could Harry lower his Occlumency shields anymore to locate him without becoming overwhelmed by the creatures' emotions.

"Sev, why can't I see you?!"

If Severus was on the ground he might be able to use his shock wave or an expansive slashing curse. Harry was having a hard time fighting so inefficiently, he was not used to containing his magic during battle. He already had a few shallow bites on his legs and chest, but he knew the poison won't be able to kill him so he ignored the burning pain as much as possible and focused on listening for Severus' answer.

"Chameleon charm-AHH!"

As soon Harry heard Severus scream he waived his arm in a sweeping half circle towards Sev's voice and cried out with an extra strong wave of magic, "Finite!"

Unfortunately, one of the acromantulas managed to make use of the small opportunity. The creature pushed up with its hind legs and came up behind Harry to bite into his neck, but Harry sensed it and barely managed to shift his upper body slightly in a reflexive swerve. Thus, the spider ended up biting right between the corner of his right eye and his hairline with a sickening _crunch_ of shattering bone.

The pain was excruciating, it was all Harry could do as he blasted the giant spider into oblivion. He could not longer see from his right eye, but could still feel the sharp sting of the poison burning into his eye and the surrounding skin.

He gritted his teeth and looked for Severus. He found him on the ground, his small body half hidden by the gnarled roots of a tree. He also had a thick branch in his scraped hands, using it to hit any spider that came near him. Thank Merlin for vampire strength.

Harry attacked with renewed fervor, blasting away spiders as he approached. Harry didn't know how long it took him to reach him, but it already seemed way too long. By now Harry was covered in black acromantula blood and body parts while the whole right side of his face felt like molten lava.

"Harry!"

Harry saw Severus' tear stained face and panicked expression as a spider somehow managed to bite down on Severus' leg and started pulling him out of his hideout. He sent a wave of magic to clear out other spiders near them and let go of his wand (which automatically returned to his holster). He swiftly picked up Severus with his now free arm and used the sword to cut off the spider's head. As soon as the dead creature's jaws let go of Severus' leg, Harry apparated them to their front door.

Falling to his knees with Severus in his arms, he concentrated on pushing back the pain in order to think clearly. Though he had yet to come across a poison capable of killing him, poison produced by magical creatures still hurt him. He had survived the bite of another basilisk two years ago, but the sheer pain of it had almost made him wish for death, in comparison the acromantula poison was just bearable.

At least Severus was safe now.

HPSSHPSSHPSS

"H-Harry…" Severus stuttered, trying to stop sobbing. He'd never been so scared in his life; he'd really thought he was going to die until Harry showed up. But now…he could not help sobbing even harder as he left the arms that held him and looked at Harry.

Harry's clothes were in tatters, he was covered in some disgusting smelling blue-black slime and bright red blood. Harry's blood, he recognized the scent of it even with all that slime on him. As he looked at the man kneeling in front of him, Severus was swamped with fresh guilt as he got a good look at his face. The right side of Harry's face was a bloody mess, his right eye completely swollen shut with visible little black lines radiating outwards under his skin.

"Masters!" Severus turned to look at Noodle as he heard the front door open, but Noodle had already popped away.

"Sev…" He heard Harry call to him. "Were you hurt too badly?"

"N-No."

Severus didn't know what to do. He wanted to hug him and beg for forgiveness, but he didn't want to hurt him even more. He refused to whine about the painful burning sensation coming from the bites on his arm and legs. Harry was hurt 10 times worse and he wasn't crying like a baby.

This was all his fault...

HPSSHPSSHPSS

"Harry! Severus! Oh Merlin, what happened?" Eileen was horrified. When Noodle had come get her in frantic worry, she had hoped that the elf had been exaggerating the situation, but obviously that was not the case at all.

"Eileen, no matter what happens, don't take us to St. Mungos." Harry told her, looking at her with his uninjured eye. She didn't agree, he needed professional help, his eye especially.

"Tend to Severus, I'm not sure how many times he was bitten by the acromantulas."

Eileen immediately knelt to check on her son. He was crying silently, but she couldn't really tell much with his clothes on.

"Take him to his room. Noodle will take care of me." Harry told her with noticeable authority as he stood with Noodle's help. Eileen apparated Severus and herself to his room and started questioning him. "Severus tell me what happened. Where are you hurt?"

She cast a strong _scourgify_ on him and started disrobing him. His silent continuous tears were beginning to worry her. Severus rarely cried and when he did it was never for long. She was also worried about Harry, if they had been bitten by an acromantula they will die without the anti-venom.

She gasped when she finally got her son down to his underwear. He had two deep bites, one on his upper right arm and another on his left leg, towards the outward side portion of his shin. He also had what looked like a shallow bite on his right calf. No wonder he was crying, she was more surprised by the fact that he wasn't screaming, she had heard that acromantula poisoning was a very painful experience…if you survived. She was just about to apparate to St. Mungo's with Severus, whether Harry agreed or not, when she heard the bedroom door open.

"How badly is he hurt?" She turned to see Harry entering the room. He was no longer covered in grime and blood, but he was still wearing the same tattered clothing. He had also covered up his right eye with a white cloth in a crude sort of eye patch.

"Harry we have to go St. Mungos. We need the anti-venom and your eye…" Noodle popped in carrying two blood bags and gave them to Harry.

"Severus, here, you need to drink one of these." He told Severus while giving him a blood bag and then nodded to Noodle, who popped away once more. "Eileen, Severus is a vampire. By taking him to St. Mungos we are automatically calling trouble from the Ministry. Their bigotry alone is enough to make our lives hell on earth for as long as we live in the wizarding world. Besides, Severus' vampirism ensures his recovery, the venom can't kill him."

Harry explained all this while he performed a number of spells Eileen didn't recognize, especially since they were all non-verbal. In the time they had lived together she had noticed that Harry had a tendency to cast spells silently, big or small, they seemed to come just as easily to him. Right now he had divided the blood in the second pack into three parts. These he then somehow made into what looked like red liquid squares, each one pressed onto the bites on Severus body without trickling down.

"Severus," Harry knelt in front of him lifted his chin with a gentle hand. "You'll be all right. I know it hurts like hell right now but you will feel better soon... it's okay to cry and scream when in pain if you need to…"

Severus suddenly threw himself at Harry with a sobbing cry, wrapping both arms around his neck in a death grip. "I'm sorry. It's my fault you're hurt again. Don't hate me…please."

Eileen saw that that Harry was in pain, he had gone whiter than a sheet when Severus clutched him and she almost told Severus to let go. But Harry simply sat on the floor and pulled Severus to stand between his bent legs, hugging him with one hand and rubbing his back with the other. "I don't hate you, I could never hate you…Sev, you are my family now and no matter what you do I will always be here for you."

Eileen blinked away tears, after living with Tobias for so long Harry still managed to surprise her with his gentle matter towards Severus.

Severus was no longer crying but he remained in Harry's arms, seemingly trying to bury his head into Harry's neck as much as possible. Soon however, Eileen remembered that _Harry_ wasn't a vampire and needed to care of his own wounds. Not to mention that he needed the anti-venom as soon as possible, nor was she completely convinced that Severus will be able to survive a poisoning at such a young age. But at that moment Noodle popped back in with another house-elf in tow. The new house-elf looked a lot like Noodle, except it wore a full length pillow case and was barefoot, instead of wearing comfortable slippers, clean trousers and a shirt like Noodle.

Severus finally let go and turned around in Harry's arms, but he didn't pull away. Instead, he sat down between Harry's bent legs and leaned back onto his chest, pulling Harry's arm around him tightly once more, still whimpering every now and then in pain.

Harry placed a kiss on top of Severus' raven black head and looked to the new arrivals. "Noodle. Miss." He nodded politely in welcome.

"This be Noodle's mamá, family mender I told Master about: Kura."

"Hello Kura, welcome to my home. I am Harry Potter and I'm in need of a healer for Severus here. He was bitten by acromantulas, can you try to heal him please?"

Eileen's mouth dropped open. She could not believe what she was seeing. And neither could Kura if her wide-eyed expression was anything to go by. The astounded house-elf stayed like that until her son kicked her not so subtly on the leg.

"Yes, yes, of course. Kura will try, sir."

"Severus is a vampire, will that present a problem?"

"No, sir."

With that, Kura stepped in front of them and snapped her fingers, a discernible pink glow gradually surrounding Severus .

Severus almost giggled at the tickling feeling and the lack of any more pain.

Kura snapped her fingers again and the pink glow seemed to slowly seep into Severus until it disappeared completely.

She frowned.

"Did something go wrong?" Harry asked her.

"Young Severus should not have scars."

"Ah, that's probably my fault." Harry answered as he looked down to the faint scars left on Severus' skin. Everyone turned to look at him at that pronouncement. "He has been feeding on my blood for two weeks now. I cannot be healed by elf magic. An elf friend of mine tried to heal me once, but it was impossible. It is probable that my blood interfered with your healing magic somewhat. But other than that, how do you feel, Sev?"

Severus tilted his head back to look up at him as he answered. "Good. No pain at all." He then turned to Kura and thanked her with a small, awkward, seated bow.

Kura beamed in happiness for a moment before popping away abruptly.

"Mother is being called by her master, she means no disrespect." Noodle explained.

"That's all right, Noodle. Thank you for convincing her to come. Do you know if there is anything we can do to show our appreciation?" Harry asked him.

"House-elfs don't need things. We are always happy to serve."

"In that case would you go thank her for us? You can come back until breakfast tomorrow morning if you want, we'll call you if we need you again tonight."

"Noodle will be called if he's needed. Harry promises?" Noodle insisted while shaking a chastising finger towards Harry. Harry promised and ignored Severus' snorting laugh at his expense. Eileen just shook her head, already used to the odd antics of her new family.

Noodle nodded and popped away once more

"Harry you're in pain." Severus said all of a sudden, standing up in a hurry. "Hurry, you have to go to St. Mungo's! I'm fine now, but you could die. Harry please…" Severus looked frantic as he fidgeted, clearly waiting for Harry get up.

"I won't die. Besides, I can't go there Severus." Harry told him in a comforting tone. "My blood is…different. I can't take the chance that the wrong person might get a sample of it."

"But you're in pain…I can smell it." Severus said, looking at his feet, appearing a bit embarrassed at the admission.

Eileen spoke up. "Is this _difference_, the reason you say you won't die from the poison? Are you sure about this?"

"Yes. I survived a basilisk bite; acromantula poisoning is a walk in the park." Harry said with a cynical scoff.

Eileen and Severus both gasped: no one could survive a basilisk bite. Severus, however, recovered in a second and glared at Harry. "That does not mean you can just sit there and do nothing. Your eye looked horrible and you have other wounds don't you?"

"Noodle already helped me get cleaned up and I healed my eye as best I could, though I now have another scar to add to my ever growing repertoire." Harry told him with a lopsided smile, he couldn't move the right side of his face just yet.

Severus still glared at him. "If you already healed yourself, why are you in such pain? It has to be intense for me to be able to smell it. My sense of smell is barely sharper than before you know. Let me see your eye."

Harry looked at him for a moment before doing as he requested or rather, as ordered. Eileen and Severus approached to get a good look.

Harry's eye was still swollen shut, though not as much as before. Instead of a bloody gaping wound he now had a wide, red, raised scar connecting the edge of his eye to his hair line. Surrounding the scar where hair-thin, short, black twisty looking lines: the poison had blackened capillaries near the wound, producing a peculiar fringe-like effect around the scar.

Severus made a low whimpering sound in his throat when he saw it, before taking Harry's head between his hands and carefully tilting it to the side. He then leaned in and started to lick the scar and eye tenderly, tears running down his pale cheeks and lightly falling on Harry's face.

Eileen stared at them wide-eyed, Harry looking as shocked as she felt.

When Severus pulled away the scar was still wide but now smooth and silver-white in color, nor was his eye swollen any more. Harry raised a probing hand to his face, the pain in and around his eye having banished almost completely.

"Do vampires have healing powers?" Eileen asked in wonder.

"No. I have never heard of such an ability before." Harry replied, tracing his new scar with tentative fingers.

"Perhaps it is a case of accidental magic then?" Eileen proposed.

Harry nodded and opened both his eyes this time. Eileen felt my mouth dropping open once more that night. Harry's right eye was light aqua-green in color, a stark difference from his other eye, which was a bright green. The entire combination of different colored eyes, scar, and blackened capillaries made his face stand out like an elaborate work of art. Even the lightening bolt scar on his forehead and wild black hair added to the effect.

Eileen had never seen anything so eerily beautiful in her life.

Harry groaned when he saw Severus and Eileen looking at him like he had grown a third eye or something. He conjured up a mirror and took a fortifying breath before taking a look…

"Oh…well at least it doesn't look like an American highway map anymore, though I could easily join a circus now." Harry joked.

In his opinion, he looked like a tattooed weirdo with cheap contact lenses but he was used to being different and as long as Severus and Eileen didn't mind his new look the rest of the world could go hang. But he still felt a little weird about his scars. He had spent his life so far being instantly known because of one, any scars on his face made him feel vulnerable somehow.

"What's a circus?" Severus asked with a frown.

Eileen shot Severus an unhappy look, she still didn't know how they had gotten bitten. She knew from Severus' note that he had followed Harry somewhere. She assumed they had been in the Forbidden Forest, but what exactly had happened?

"Forget about it, I'll explain some other time. Eileen, do you have any painkillers in stock? It would make it easier to sleep tonight….How about we talk about this in morning?"

Harry flexed his body cautiously; the bites on his arms and chest still stung, but Noodle had been able to remove most of the remaining venom so in all probability he'll be fine in two days if not sooner. This fast healing ability was one effect about the whole Chamber of Secrets fiasco he felt grateful for, though…he could really do without everything else that came with it.

HPSSHPSSHPSSHPSS

_January 25 (2:17am)_

Severus couldn't sleep; he couldn't stop thinking about the consequences of his foolishness. He had gotten Harry and himself hurt and almost killed. He felt stupid for thinking Harry would leave him. People don't run into a nest of giant spiders to rescue someone they don't like, much less cuddle the reason for their injuries while they are still in pain themselves.

That was another thing about Harry. He was different from everyone else. Severus _hated_ to be cuddled, patted on the head, or any other such thing. Such actions always made him feel like they were looking down on him or thinking him weak. He didn't feel like that with Harry at all.

Maybe it was because Harry was so special. He didn't seem to think like anyone he had ever met. His beliefs and way of looking at things always managed to surprise him somehow, and in the end he felt secure that whatever Harry might think of him, he won't think him weak or look down on him for allowing that physical closeness.

Tobias always saw physical signs of affection as womanish nonsense and thus a show of weakness. All other men he had ever observed or met were always careful not to seem 'womanish' when among other men, including their sons. Even women seemed to find such behavior normal, which is why he didn't like his mother to touch him like that too much. She saw things like everyone else did too. He knew she loved him and he loved her, but it wasn't the same as with Harry.

Now he had to deal with this guilt he was feeling. He knew that for all his understanding ways, Harry still felt self-conscious of his scars. He had seen Harry's expression when he had looked at the new changes to his face. Not only did he have another, bigger, scar on his face, he had to deal with the other changes as well. Severus didn't know what a circus was but he was certain the reference had not been a positive one.

After fighting with himself for a few minutes, Severus finally decided to go see Harry and check if he was awake too.

Severus entered Harry's room without knocking; he didn't want to wake him up if he was sleeping. The room curtains were open and the waxing gibbous illuminated the bedroom in enough silver moonlight to make out Harry's sleeping features. Thus, as soon as he entered he saw that Harry was indeed asleep. He was a little disappointed but not really surprised, it was the middle of the night after all.

He was just about to leave when he heard Harry call out to him. "Severus? What is it?"

"I couldn't sleep….Did I wake you?" It seemed to Severus that all he did was keep finding new things to feel guilty about. He had not meant to wake him up.

Harry didn't answer; instead, he smiled at him and patted the empty space beside him on the queen-size bed. "Come on, you can lie here while we talk." Severus didn't need further prompting. He removed his slippers and slipped under the covers, facing Harry.

"What's the problem?"

"I'm sorry you got hurt because of me. I feel so stupid…." Severus told him, scowling into his pillow.

"We all feel stupid sometimes, just like we all make mistakes. The only thing you can do now is learn from your mistake."

A moment of silence.

"Sev, why did you follow me yesterday?"

Severus sighed. "It's stupid."

"Your actions were undoubtedly foolish, but your reasons, your feelings, could never be stupid." Severus looked up at that and raised his hand to take Harry's hand in his smaller one.

"I was scared." Severus whispered, focusing on their joined hands. He would have never admitted such a thing to anyone else but this was Harry. Harry would never make fun of him for admitting it.

"I thought that you had started leaving the house to look for someone else to help. Like you helped me…but someone that wasn't a vampire or that would hurt you like I did that day I got mad."

Harry squeezed his hand gently. "Why would you think that?"

"I don't know. You had never left us alone before. But you started going out and not eating lunch with us the day after I hurt you. I thought maybe you were too nice to tell me that I really was a monster-"

Harry cut him off before he could even finish the sentence. "You are not a monster. Don't ever say that about yourself, especially because of what you are. What matters to me is _who_ you are. If you're a good person I don't care if you are turned into a banshee with blue skin and three eyes, you will still be Severus. And I definitely wouldn't call you a monster."

"A blue banshee?" Severus giggled and saw Harry's smile flash in the moonlight as he looked at him.

"Harry, if you are not going to leave us, who are those carvings in your room for?" As soon as he said it he blushed and hoped his face was shadowed enough to hide it from Harry who was the one facing the window.

"You searched my room?" Harry asked him with an arched eyebrow.

"I'm sorry, I just wanted to know where you went. I didn't take anything I promise!"

"I'm not worried about you stealing; I'm just confused as to why you didn't just ask me." Severus was quiet for a minute. He honestly hadn't thought of that.

"Could I really have asked you? Mom said that we are not to bother you. I'm not sure but I think she believes you work doing something illegal. When Tobias worked he usually left early and didn't get home until after 4 or so, you have never done that and well, you know…because you have a lot of money but you have never told us how you earn it and still spend a lot of time at home. "

Harry burst out laughing so hard the bed shook.

"I don't do anything illegal." He told him between chuckles. "I gamble. I better remember to clear that up with her in the morning…"

"Gamble? At what?"

"Quidditch games. I have quite a knack for betting on the winner and I don't place small bets either. It's quite lucrative and allows me to manage my time as I please."

"Mmmm…so about the toys then…"

"They are for the centaurs' young in the Forbidden Forest. I wish to befriend them. They are our neighbors after all."

"What?! Why? They are dangerous creat-" Severus cut himself off. Many would consider _him_ a dangerous creature, and a dark one at that. Just by associating with him Harry demonstrated his lack of prejudice, it shouldn't surprise him that it extended to others as well. Which reminded him…"Harry, why are you so different?"

He quickly realized how offensive the question sounded. "I mean, you obviously don't think I'm a dangerous dark creature, or centaurs, and I remember you said you hated the werewolf registration act…Even the way you treat me and how you act. You admit liking to cook and you always hug me or ruffle my hair or…"

"I'm sorry, if I was making you uncomfortable you should have-"

"NO, no, it's not that. I hate it when other people do it but it's okay when you do it. It doesn't feel like your babying me or make me feel ill at ease when you do it. It feels different…I can't really explain it." Severus said frustrated.

"The answers to your questions are related in a way. You see, when I was a child I lived with relatives that hated anything that they didn't consider 'normal' or acceptable by society's standards. They had never liked me to begin with, since I became their ward when my parents died, I was nothing but an unwanted burden to them."

"How old were you?" Severus asked softly, he had wanted to know more about Harry ever since he rescued them. He was not about to waste this opportunity when Harry was talking about himself of his own free will.

"My parents died when I was a year old. I had no other relatives so they had to take me in, but they did so grudgingly. Things just became worse when they learned I was a wizard. Before I turned eleven they had kept me around doing chores, cooking, and things like that. After that however, we barely saw each other, much less speak to one another unless we had to. So when I was about twelve or thirteen I promised myself that I would never be like them. I would not change myself to be whatever society found acceptable, nor would I ever judge others just because everyone else believed them to be a certain way."

"So that's why you're okay with me being a vampire and the centaurs and the werewolves…"

"It's a big part of it." Harry told Severus and looked out the window for a second before continuing. "That is also part of the reason why I'm so demonstrative with you. As I grew up there were many times I wished for someone to hug me or just touch me with a little bit of affection. I promised myself that if I ever had children of my own, I would never deny them that. I know you are not my son but I do consider you my family now. Nevertheless, please…promise me that if you ever feel uncomfortable in any way you'll let me know. I don't want you to feel as if you have to put up with me, if you don't like something just tell me and I won't do it again. Promise?"

"I promise, but like I said before, it's okay."

"I'll trust you on that." Harry told him squeezing his hand once more before releasing it. "We better sleep now. Your mother will want a full explanation in a few hours. You better rest before you face that inquisition."

Severus groaned; he was going to be grounded forever - if not longer.

Harry laughed. "I'm sure it won't be _too_ bad. You can sleep here tonight if you want. The bed is more than big enough for the two of us."

Severus groaned again and pulled the covers over his head. The last thing he heard as he drifted off to sleep, no longer bothered by a guilty conscience, was Harry's soft laughter.

HPSSHPSSHPSS

When Harry woke up in the morning he felt warmer than usual. He opened his eyes and saw that Severus had moved sometime during the night; the surprising thing was that Harry hadn't woken up. He was a very light sleeper and because of the war he was used to waking up at the slightest disturbance (which is why he had woken up when Severus entered his room during the night).

Severus was laying half on him, his head and torso on Harry's stomach, one arm around Harry's waist. Harry smiled. He had no idea how Severus ended up in this position but now he had to figure out how to get up without waking him. He slowly and gently separated himself from Severus, leaving him to settle down again with a bit of sleepy grumbling and hugging the pillow instead of Harry.

"Harry have you seen Severus? I just went to his room but he's not there." Harry heard a worried sounding Eileen ask him as soon as he stepped out of his room.

"He's sleeping in my room. He had a guilty conscience crisis last night and couldn't sleep."

"Oh…" Eileen said with a frown.

"Were you going to wake him up so early? You two can talk while I cook if you wish." Harry offered since he already knew everything. So, that's exactly what happened after everyone was assembled in the kitchen.

After an intense discussion Eileen grounded Severus with no potions and no new books for a month. Severus had told her what had happened while skillfully avoiding mentioning what had prompted his behavior in the first place, but Harry didn't mention Severus' fear. Not only would he be breaking a confidence if he did, but it was not his place to butt in between Severus and his mother.

Harry only spoke up again once breakfast was ready, after calling Noodle.

"Good morning masters, mistress. Everything fine?" Noodle said as soon as he popped in.

"We are fine, don't worry so much." Harry assured him after Eileen and Severus greeted him. "So, just out of curiosity, what do the two of you think I do for a living?" He asked Noodle and Eileen.

"Sell dangerous potions ingredients, like acromantula venom." Noodle answered with a pointed look.

"And you Eileen?" Harry asked her with a smirk.

"Ummm…well…whatever you do is fine with me as long as it does not endanger Severus or myself…you have never brought anything like that home so it does not really matter I suppose.."

He arched an eyebrow, an answer worthy of a Slytherin: polite evasiveness that completely ignored answering the question.

"I'm afraid I will have to disappoint you then. My profession is very boring and lacking in dangerousness or adventure of the kind Noodle imagines…I am but a gambler."

"Since we are all here right now let me just go on record and say that you can always ask me anything. I am not saying I will always answer but if I don't want to answer I will inform you of it...So, let's have it: any question you're just burning to ask?"

"You are Noodle's master, you are kind and Noodle has never been happier. I do not need to know anything else."

Harry was familiar with house-elf loyalty but it still warmed his heart to hear that Noodle was indeed happy living with them.

"I'm glad you're happy Noodle. I made a little something for your mother. Which family does she serve? I don't want to get her in trouble so I rather request permission for her to wear it before giving it to her. It's a simple gift really, muggles call them friendship bracelets." Harry told him while taking out a thin, hand woven, silver and blue bracelet made out of embroidery thread.

"House-elfs don't need things, Mas-Harry, but mamá will be happy to know you made something for her, even if she can't wear it… She serves the Malfoy family you see."

"Ah." That was sure to be an unpleasant meeting. "I'll try to arrange a meeting soon anyway."

The truth was that Harry had interwoven his magic into the threads as he wove them into a bracelet. It worked as an alarm system, letting him know if she was in danger or gravely injured. It was only fair that after saving Severus from days of pain he look out for her at the very least.

"How about you Eileen?"

"Yesterday you mentioned your blood was different somehow. If this is so how did it happen and how can you be sure that it won't harm my son?"

Harry nodded; she had the right of a concerned mother after all. "What I am about to tell you can never be discussed again unless absolutely necessary. Is this clear?" He asked in complete seriousness and did not continue until they had all agreed.

"When I was younger I was bitten by a basilisk and with a lot of luck and even more help, I survived. However, my survival came with a price. One was a natural resistance to poisons, as far as I know there is no poison that can kill me at the moment. The other, well, I am sure you have noticed how young I look?...I stopped aging when I was 17."

"What? But why? Are you saying you can't die?" Eileen asked astonished.

"I won't tell you why, it's better if you don't know. And no, that's not what I meant. I can't age but I can die just like any other person, I just won't look any older than this. As for how I know my blood won't hurt Severus, simply put, he is not the first vampire I have fed. My blood will help him a little actually. Even as a vampire he is still vulnerable to some poisons, with my blood that won't be a problem. He will still suffer some side effects, like the scars left after Kura's healing, but it is unlikely any poison would ever actually kill him if he continues to drink from me."

Eileen looked from Harry to her son, not knowing what to say to that.

"Any other questions?" Harry asked as he drank a bit of tea to soothe his dry throat.

"How was it that you found Severus in the Forbidden Forest? Severus said you _apparated_ right into the throng of acromantulas attacking him. How did you know where he was?"

Harry thought about how to answer for a moment. He didn't want to reveal his clairvoyance so soon but he could mention his 'empathy' for now. What he did was actually closer to 'feeling' another person's magic and by extension their emotions or thoughts, but it was easier to just call it empathy; it made it easier to explain at least.

He needed to talk about it with Severus anyway.

"Do all you know what empathy is?"

Severus and Noodle shook their heads in the negative.

"It's the ability to feel another person's emotions, correct?" Eileen asked.

"Basically." Harry agreed.

"I am a rather weak empath. I usually need to focus on a particular individual to exercise this ability. However, I am very sensitive to Severus in particular. Almost from our first meeting I knew there was some kind of connection between us. It was the reason why I tried so hard to get him to accept my help when I first met him. I knew he needed me…and I was there to help. I always go with my instincts when I can."

He smiled a little sheepishly at them. "When I first met you I told you the truth when I said I wanted to help you but it was not the main reason _why_. I couldn't tell you that I wanted to help because my instincts told me to; you would have thought me a nutcase!"

Severus was grinning like a maniac by now, happy to know he had a special connection to Harry. Noodle just kept on eating; he really liked the little animal shapes Harry made of their breakfast fruit. Eileen was shaking her head, muttering something about how she shouldn't be surprised by anything anymore or something along those lines.

"So, in order to keep myself from becoming overwhelmed by Severus' feelings I keep my Occlumency shields as strong as I can. Occlumency is the art of shielding the mind against external penetration, magical or otherwise. However, if Severus' emotions are intense enough they can still get through to me. Yesterday was one of those times."

"When I felt him in trouble I merely allowed my instincts to guide me to his side." He finished with a shrug.

"I see…please don't take this the wrong way but since meeting you there were times when I did think you a little too sensitive for a male. Not that that's a bad thing! It's just unusual that's all. Your empathy, no matter how weak, does explain quite a few things about you."

Harry blushed, he hated being called sensitive, it reminded him too much of Malfoy's taunting.

Severus was scowling at his mother and jabbing his sausage rather savagely; she shouldn't be making Harry feel bad.

"Anyway, I would like to teach Severus Occlumency. By keeping my shields so high all the time I am limiting what I can perceive. If I'd had them at a normal level, yesterday's mishaps would have never taken place. If you agree to my teaching him of course..." He told Eileen before Severus got too excited with the idea.

"I don't see why not…" Eileen said still somewhat hesitant but she was willing to wait and see how things continue to develop. She was still reeling about the fact that Severus had slept with Harry last night, she wasn't comfortable with the idea of him sleeping with another male. But Severus had not complained about anything when she woke him up…but then again Harry was powerful enough that he could Obliviate them and she'd never know. But if he did that would be going against what he had said under the globe of truth spell …She was getting a headache just thing of 'what ifs' and getting no where.

"Great! Let's get started tonight!" Severus said enthusiastically.

She will just make sure to keep an even closer eye on the both of them, she had no reason to doubt Harry but it was still too early for her to trust him blindly.

**

* * *

AN: **I know that in cannon Lucius would be 14 but I need him to be younger for plot purposes….Sorry for the short chapter but it didn't really feel like an interlude to me.

**Chapter 9:** Eileen's Confession

_January 29_ (Malfoy Manor)

Lucius Malfoy didn't know what to think about their latest visitor. Even at 10 years old he knew that this 'Harry Potter' was unlike anyone he'd ever met. When his parents had received the letter from this self-proclaimed muggle-born they had sneered and scoffed at his effrontery, insulted that such a guttersnipe had even dared contact them at all.

His family, his father especially, made no secret of their disdain for mudbloods, including most half-bloods. At first, Lucius had thought the mudblood a bloody fool to openly declare himself as such to known blood purists as the Malfoys. He knew his parents would never lower themselves to meet with such rubbish, thus it came as no surprise when he was told to deal with him. It was an obvious (to purebloods at least) demonstration of contempt, sending a child to deal with an inferior, unwanted guest.

But Potter had not reacted like he (or his parents) had expected him to. Potter had greeted him as if Lucius were an adult. He had gotten straight to business but never ignored pureblood customs. He always maintained his wand arm behind his back as was proper for a new acquaintance or unknown guest and never gawked at the mansion's luxury or grandeur. He didn't even ask for a seat when Lucius denied him that small courtesy, though Lucius had taken a seat himself with classic Malfoy superiority.

Anyone else in Potter's position would have wasted time and energy trying to arrange another meeting with his parents. Nor would they have respected his decision not to offer him a seat and would have sat anyway, just because Lucius _was_ a child, regardless of his status.

He confused Lucius.

Potter obviously knew pureblood customs; therefore he was aware of the insult his family was dealing him when they had sent Lucius to deal with him. So why had Potter completely ignored the slight? Also, why had he come to purchase that particular elf? Other than his parent's personal elfs he didn't know any of the creatures' names and they owned several.

Lucius had asked a ridiculously high sum for the elf thinking Potter would refuse and that that would be the end of it; but Potter hadn't even batted an eyelash, maintaining his cool expression and never giving a single clue as to what he was thinking. Since Lucius had not refused to sell but had simply named a price, the Malfoys had had no choice but to finalize the sale and allow the transfer of ownership. Abraxas had been obviously displeased the supposed mudblood had gotten what he wanted and though he would never admit it Lucius knew Abraxas was a mystified by Potter as the rest of them.

He acted too much like a pureblood to be a mudblood as he proclaimed. In a way Lucius felt sorry for Potter, Abraxas was not one for mysteries, especially one had already managed to outwit him.

Also, to be able to spend such a large amount of money without care, just how affluent was he? Where did he come from? If he truly wasn't related to the Potters why did he bear such a strong resemblance to them?

Who was this…Harry Potter?

HPSSHPSSHPSSHPSS

_February 3 _

Harry found Eileen at the kitchen table, Noodle patting her hand comfortingly. It was clear why as well, she had obviously been crying recently, if her still red eyes and the wet handkerchief in her hands were any indication.

"Eileen, are you all right? Can I help you?" Harry asked her concerned. He had noticed her becoming a little more reserved towards him, she also seemed sad about something but the few times he'd tried to ask her about it she had pulled away, saying she was fine and that there was nothing to worry about.

"Eileen, please, I know I'm young but at least give me the chance to help you with whatever is bothering you…"

"Harry, you're always so sweet," she said with a watery smile and then a deep sigh. "I just…" she stopped, not really sure how to start. Harry took the chance to take a seat beside Noodle, though the elf didn't stay, he just nodded at him solemnly and silently popped away.

"It's not just one thing…" she began hesitantly. "When my son and I first came here we were so happy…" Harry was really starting to get nervous now, even feeling a bit fearful. He could already hear the big 'but' coming up next.

"But - I soon realized I was losing my son-No, that came out wrong, I mean…" She stopped again, a distressed grimace darkening her face.

"What was it that made you feel you were losing him?" Harry asked gently. He still didn't truly understand but something was bothering her, therefore he wanted to help her. She was family now.

"Severus had always been a very self-sufficient, independent child, very private…quiet. When we came to live with you I was so very happy when I saw him acting more like a child: running around, throwing tantrums, demanding attention – But then I realized…he always goes to _you_. If he has a question, he asks you. If he's hurt he goes to you to get healed. If he wants to take a nap he cuddles next to you or goes to your room to sleep if you're not here. He only comes to me with questions if you are not present and he's unsuccessful at finding the answer on his own. He never looks for _me_ to take a nap. He doesn't like it when _I_ call him Sev…he hasn't let me touch his hair since he was four…"

Silent tears were streaming down her face as she talked, looking at Harry with pain filled eyes that tore at his soul more and more with each word she uttered. Harry was shaken, he'd had no idea she felt this way and it just made him feel guilty that not only had he failed to notice her pain, but he was the main cause of it.

He reached across the table to grasp her hands, trying to convey his feeling through touch, for he knew no matter what he said his words will still be lacking. "Eileen, I - It wasn't my intention to harm your relationship with Sev-Severus."

"I know that…just like I know that I wouldn't have you be any other way. It just…hurts to realize that you son doesn't look to you first when looking for answers or even comfort-" She shifted her gaze, looking off to the garden through the open backdoor.

"I saw you last night. I woke up when I heard Severus having another nightmare about those spiders…I stood outside his room and watched; you'd left the door ajar… Severus didn't even hesitate for a second once you sat on the edge of his bed. He scrambled to curl up in your lap like he belonged there, burrowing under your nightshirt without even asking and pushing his face to your neck like if his life depended on it." Harry was blushing bright red by now, knowing what she had seen…and heard. She turned to look at him then, a gentle, sad smile on her face.

"You looked so flummoxed when he did that I had trouble keeping myself from laughing, it was so cute…and then you did it again without even trying. You didn't tense up or pull away because you were uncomfortable – you hugged him to you and kissed his forehead. I saw him smile then, the v-neck of your shirt barely low enough to allow me to see his satisfied smile; as if he had known you would do that all along…How did you do it? How did you give him such confidence, such complete certainty..? I tried so hard to be a good mother, to show him that he could rely on me, that I loved him and would never turn him away…I tried to show him that he could believe in me…" Another tear fell on the table and Harry remained silent, knowing there was nothing he could say at the moment.

"How…How did you manage to do in one month what I could not do in 8 years?" But she shook her head; not really asking for an answer, for it wasn't one that could truly be articulated.

"What was that song you sang to him last night?"

Harry blinked at her for a second, not expecting the question.

"Ummm… '_We are One,'_ it is a muggle song, one of my best friends used to sing it to me…" He trailed off, not ready to talk about Hermione yet.

"It is a beautiful one and even at a distance I could still see how much Severus enjoyed it…I had not seen him fall asleep so peacefully content since he was a baby." She sighed softly, looking calmer but still depressed.

"Eileen…I know that I'm not really your husband, but I consider you my family as much as Severus. And I wish I could cast a spell and just open my mouth to say whatever you need to hear, but I can't. I care for you and it hurts me that I have hurt you like this…even if I didn't mean to… hurt is hurt, no matter the how or why of it…"

"Oh Harry, you are the best thing to have ever happened to us…I suppose the truth is I have never seen Severus so happy – but part of me can't help but be jealous that I'm not part of the cause of his happiness. I realize that I can't really blame him; after all, he suffered 8 years of hell because of my weakness…because I couldn't bring my self to leave Tobias. If it wasn't for you, we'd probably still be in that hellhole..."

She closed her eyes, squeezing Harry's hands tightly.

"I'm scared about tomorrow…I had thought I would never see him again and now with this and then that letter from the Ministry, I–" She choked, unable to continue.

"Young or not, I protect my family with my life, you have nothing to fear from tomorrow… I promise you I will do everything in my power to keep you both safe – no matter what the Ministry says…"

* * *

AN: The song he sang was this one: (The Lion King 2: Simba's Pride; We are one lyrics by Marty Panzer & Mark Feldman)

Lyrics:

As you go through life you'll see

There is so much that we

Don't understand

And the only thing we know

Is things don't always go

The way we planned

But you'll see every day

That we'll never turn away

When it seems all your dreams come undone

We will stand by your side

Filled with hope and filled with pride

We are more than we are

We are one

Even those who are gone

Are with us as we go on

Your journey has only begun

Tears of pain, tears of joy

One thing nothing can destroy

Is our pride, deep inside

We are one

We are one, you and I

We are like the earth and sky

One family under the sun

All the wisdom to lead

All the courage that you need

You will find when you see

We are one

**

* * *

AN**: I have Eileen behave the way she does because I figured that no matter how safe she might feel at present, a part of her will still be fearful of the man that had beaten her up for almost 10 years before being able to escape.

**Chapter 10:** Back at the Ministry

_February 4_

"Oh Merlin I am so nervous. How did Tobias get a court date…and so soon? If he managed to do this, what else is he capable of?" Eileen fretted while patting down Severus' outfit for the fourth time in as many minutes. Severus rolled his eyes at his mother's fussing and looked to Harry with an irritated look on his face.

They were at their front door in semi-formal robes. Eileen was beautiful wearing dark blue robes and a complementing white fur-lined full-length coat. Severus was dressed in a mirror image of Harry in black robes and winter cloak. They looked like a wealthy pureblood family, though Harry will indubitably attract a lot of attention with his looks alone.

"I don't know Eileen, but whatever it is he won't be able to regain visitation rights. I am sure the only reason he was even able to appeal was because the memories you submitted did not show Severus' abuse clearly enough….and I wouldn't be surprised if not all of your recorded memories are even available anymore. Unfortunately money is still the ruling power at the Ministry rather than law or order."

Harry moved closer to steady her hands, before Severus _really_ lost his temper, and tried to reassure her once more. She had been a wreck ever since they had gotten Ministry summons for the Family Court two days ago. Somehow Tobias had gotten enough money to appeal for visitations right with his only heir, Severus.

In truth Harry was not overly worried about the appeal, a decision could not be reached without interviewing Severus and Harry had no doubt that Severus was up to the task. What really worried Harry was exactly from where and how Tobias had acquired the monetary means to bribe a Ministry official.

Other points in their favor was that no one, including Tobias, could bribe everyone involved in the Family Law Office and if necessary Harry had the means to prolong the matter with bribes of his own until Severus reached adulthood. But he did not put it past Tobias to involve his son in his dirty dealing and he wanted to know what Tobias was dabbling in, in case he had stupidly involved his family in some sordid deal.

Tobias had better not endangered Severus or Eileen in anyway or he just might meet with an unfortunate accident in the near future.

HPSSHPSSHPSSHPSSHPSS

Harry and Eileen stepped out of the lift with Severus between them, each of them holding one of his hands. They were all silent, looking calmly composed and unbothered, as they headed for Court Room 5.

As Severus took in the people assembled outside waiting to be allowed in he felt Harry stiffen slightly. Though to others he probably didn't look any different, Severus felt Harry's stiffness and saw the slight narrowing of his eyes. He was looking at the man they had ran into at that Chinese restaurant about a month ago, the older Harry look-alike. Though now because of Harry's new scar they didn't look all that similar anymore.

Then he realized Tobias was staring at them in shock. Severus sneered at him coldly. He had probably still expected him to look like a half-starved ragamuffin. In the short time he had lived with Harry he'd already grown an inch and gained a healthy weight. The more he saw Tobias' expression however, the more he wondered if Tobias even knew Harry was his legal step-father.

The courtroom doors opened a few moments later.

The room wasn't all that grand. Like most of the Ministry, this room was made of dark stone, brightly lit torches all around the room illuminating it. There were raised benches in the front, upon which already sat three middle aged wizards, and a lower set of benches opposite, closer to the door. Both were angled slightly to face the single chair in between, close to the sidewall of the room.

"Everyone please take a seat, we will be starting momentarily," the youngest of the three wizards said with a flash of impossibly straight teeth. Severus rolled his eyes but didn't say anything as Harry remained standing.

"As far as I was informed only family and relevant Ministry officials were to be here today. Last I was aware, Mr. Potter was neither." Harry stated coolly; the other wizard's smile dimmed for a moment and Severus smirked, Harry public persona was always satisfying to watch.

"Ahh…you must have missed the owl we sent you this morning. Mr. Potter…" He nodded towards the older of the two Potters. "…has filed a complaint as the Potter Patriarch, placing you under suspicion of Identify Theft. Since you were already going to at the Family Court today it was deemed practical to address the complaint after Mr. Snape's appeal was concluded."

Severus heard Harry's teeth grind against each other as he clenched his jaw and asked, "Harry what is he talking about?"

Harry gracefully flicked his wrist to eject his wand from his holster and into his grasp and silently erected a powerful privacy ward around the three of them.

Severus noted that many of the others in the room were startled and even a little awestruck. He didn't blame them, Harry's magic was impossible to ignore when he was angry. Indeed, for all of his blank expression it was clear to Severus and his mother that Harry was displeased with this new turn of events.

"Potter has taken the opportunity to use the Ministry in his favor. He was probably unable to find anything about me and figured he would learn more through an official Ministry inquiry if he accused me of Identity Theft, as the head of the Potter family it is his right…include a few bribes to get me here as soon as possible and this is what we end up with."

As soon as he finished speaking Harry locked gazes with Tobias who had coincidentally stood up just as Harry had turned his head in his direction. The longer their gazes remained connected the more Harry stiffened up, but Severus started to get worried when he realized Harry was starting to tremble. "Harry…"

Harry turned his gaze back to Severus with such fire burning in his eyes that Severus found himself unable to breathe for a moment. "Harry you're trembling."

Harry looked at him for a moment, his anger fading, but somehow Severus had the feeling he was almost …in pain. Harry placed a hand on his shoulder and knelt on one knee in front of him, looking at him with unfathomable emotions swirling in his eyes.

"Don't worry about me, let's just get this over with once and for all." Harry whispered into his ear as he hugged him tightly. Severus was starting to feel worried about what was wrong with him. Harry had never hugged him in public before, not that he minded, in fact he liked it, but he didn't like that Harry was hurting and he could do nothing to help. So he hugged him back just as strongly and kissed his scared forehead before pulling back again.

"Are you feeling better now?"

"Yes, thank you Sev." He answered with a minute smile and ran a gentle hand through Severus' loose hair before standing up again to lower the privacy ward.

Severus realized that everyone was looking at them now and Tobias looked like he wanted to strangle him, his face an angry red and glaring at Harry with heated intensity.

"Well…if we could get started…" The smiley-man said after clearing his throat; everyone quieted as he began talking in a steady voice.. "Parental appeal of the fourth of February, Mr. Tobias Snape requesting visitation rights for his son and only heir, Severus Snape Prince- nee Severus Tobias Snape…currently under the guardianship of Eileen Prince. Presiding today is Officer Benjamin Bones, Head of the Office of Family Law & Procedure; I am the Attending, Officer Dominic Brown; and today's Court Scribe is Robert Diggory."

Benjamin Bones was a tall man with a friendly face and long chestnut hair tied at the back of the neck with a black ribbon. Brown was the 'smiley' one with the fake looking teeth, and Diggory was a short slim man with solemn features.

"Mr. Tobias Snape you are here today to appeal for visitation rights after your wife was given sole custody due to spousal abuse, is this correct?" Officer Bones began the proceedings.

"Yes officer."

"Officer Marcellina Goldman, are you willing to take the interrogation seat and understand the duties thereby implied?"

Severus didn't know what those duties were but he recognized the stern woman who walked to the chair at the side of the room.

"Please describe the proceedings that took place the 12th of January pertaining to Severus Snape's current situation."

"It was a very clear cut case. Ms. Prince presented us with clear memories of physical abuse and Mr. Snape's failings as a husband, which included the failure to property care, clothe, or nourish his wife and child. He was clearly unwilling to supply his family with the basic necessities, using most of the money he earned on alcohol. Not that he worked much, he has spent the vast majority of the past 8 years claiming Family Assistance from the Ministry. As you know, in clear cases of abuse and neglect divorce is an automatic course of action meant to safeguard the aggrieved spouse and any children. Even if Ms. Prince had not already requested it, divorce was an inevitable outcome and had the family ended up destitute it would have fallen under Ministry protection …Of course things were greatly simplified by Mr. Potter, who married her-"

"WHAT!" Tobias was on his feet in a flash. He even managed to fire a curse at Harry before someone stunned him.

Severus sniggered; it looked like everyone was more amazed by the fact that Harry had calmly leaned his head to the side and had let the curse pass him by, than by Tobias' actions…idiots.

"Mr. Snape, contain yourself or we will have to postpone this appeal until you are capable of self-control." Officer Bones told Tobias after canceling the stunner. Tobias glared at him but didn't say anything back.

"Why wasn't I told about this when I filed the appeal? And how could she marry him so quickly when the required blood tests take at least two days to be processed?!

Harry scoffed derisively before answering. "The blood tests are only required of purebloods to ensure your inbreeding will not be a problem should you reproduce-"

"Mr. Potter! Kindly keep such comments to yourself…Now, your ex-wife's affairs are no longer your concern Mr. Snape, there is no legal reason why we would be required to inform you of such a fact when you don't even have visitation rights with your son. Other than having young Mr. Snape as your heir, you have no legal connection with her, thus her privacy is protected."

Officer Bones explained in an exasperated tone.

"Thank you Officer Goldman, is there anything else you would like to add?"

"No, I think I was allowed to say everything relevant to the situation."

"Thank you and please remain in the courtroom until this case adjourned." Goldman agreed and walked back to her seat. Tobias was called next.

"Please keep in mind that while at the interrogation seat you are demonstrating your compliance to speak the truth and nothing but the truth as you know it…Mr. Snape I have here in my records that you tried to apply for joint-custody of your son, not just visitation rights?"

"Correct, I want my son back but I was told parents with established records of spousal abuse cannot hold any kind of custody of their children." He replied stiffly while glaring at Eileen. Harry quickly took her hand in support and glared back at him coldly.

"Considering the abusive history with your wife, why should you be given visitation rights and why would we allow for the possible endangerment of a minor while in your presence?" Officer Bones asked in a moderate tone.

"I admit that I struck Eileen a few things during our marriage but I never physically hurt my son. He's mine too and I deserve to be his father. Potter…that kid barely out of school robes…cannot possible be a good influence on him. My son has no need for a step-father, he has me."

"Thank you Mr. Snape you may return to your seat. Mr. Harry Potter if you would…" Officer Bones continued once it became clear Tobias didn't have anything else so say in his favor and called Harry to the interrogation seat.

"You are 19 years old correct?...Do you truly believe yourself up to the task of taking care of a family? Are you financially stable enough to even provide for them?"

Severus really got bored with all these pointless questions, of course Harry could take care of them; so in order to push away boredom he started practicing his Occlumency. It was very calming and kind of fun to try to clear your mind, the weirdest thoughts could pop up when you least expected it, so that's how he entertained himself…until he was rudely interrupted.

His mother was poking him on the side and gesturing to the front subtly.

"Mr. Severus Snape, will you please take the interrogation seat?" The tone in which it was said told him that it was not the first time the question had been posed. Severus rose smoothly and did as requested by Officer Bones.

"Would you prefer I call you Mr. Snape or Severus?"

"Actually I prefer Mr. Prince." Severus heard his mother groan and saw her close her eyes while shaking her head. Bones just smiled indulgently and began questioning him.

"Mr. Prince, please answer as truthfully as possible. Everyone here cares for your welfare and your feelings about this matter will be taken in consideration when I make my final decision. Do you understand this?"

"Clearly." Severus answered somewhat arrogantly, feeling slightly insulted.

Bones' lips switched for a second and then he continued. "Please tell us how your life was with Tobias Snape…"

"Tobias hates me-" Severus began rather unpredictably.

"You call your father by his first name?" Brown interrupted, leaning forward in his seat.

"Yes, I always have, though never to his face before. I knew better than to provoke another beating."

Officer Bones frowned. "Are you saying you were beaten as well? What were the reasons?"

"Like I was saying before I was interrupted: Tobias hates me. In his view, I share my mother's unfortunate passion for potions and learning. To him, potion making is not a subject worthy of 'real' men and learning is a waste of time if it does not have anything to do with curses or hexes. My years with him consisted of being bullied and being constantly reminded of what a disappointment I was as a son. Still, most beating came from when he found me studying potions or reading my mother's books."

He stopped and looked towards Harry, who gave him another small smile before leaning down to listen to something Eileen was whispering to him.

"Mr. Prince, I must say I am quite surprised by your mature attitude. The children I have known in similar circumstance all demonstrated a … reluctance to speak of their abuse…"

"Why should I be ashamed? I am telling you this because I have to, I'm not about to shout it from the rafters. Besides, my family already knows and they love me. I could care less what anyone else thinks."

Officer Bones' eyebrows almost disappeared into his hair line at such an answer from an eight-year-old boy. "Exactly who do you consider your family?"

"Harry, mother, and Noodle…Kura… not yet, but I think I will once she has spent a little more time with us."

"Who is Kura?"

"She's Noodle's mother and our family healer."

"I thought Noodle was a family pet, or perhaps even a house elf?" Brown interrupted once again. Really, Severus was getting annoyed with his stupid questions.

"_He_ _is_ our house elf." He snapped.

Silence.

"Are you saying your healer is a house elf – are they even able to perform healing magic?"

"Of course, she even already healed me once."

Thankfully, Officer Bones spoke up before Brown could open his mouth again. "How and why were you hurt in the first place?"

"I was foolish enough to sneak into the forest near our house–"

"Which Forest is this?" Brown interrupted _again_, ruffling parchment about on his bench and Severus finally lost his temper.

"Stop interrupting me with stupid questions you–"

"Severus!" Eileen called out sounding scandalized though he still heard a few muffled chuckles around the room.

"Quiet please! – Mr. Prince, answer the question and continue if you will."

Severus huffed but did as he was told. "The Forbidden Forest. We live in Hogsmead…and to cut a long story short I got a little hurt, Harry came and rescued me, and Kura healed me."

"See! You see! That Potter brat has already endangered my son's life! I demand–!"

"You are in no position to demand anything you sorry excuse–" Harry cut Tobias off with an icy tone, his gaze promising untold pain should he finish that statement.

"Silence! That is enough from the both of you - if it happens again you will be restrained for the remainder of this session!"

A few more minutes of angst later, they were ready to continue once again.

"Moving on – Am I correct in assuming you do not consider your father a member of your family?"

"That's right."

"Very well then, can you tell us how you came to consider your stepfather, Harry Potter_,_ family?"

"I don't see him as my stepfather, he's just Harry. And he became part of my family …" Severus stopped, not really sure what to say. He had never really thought about the 'how' of it before now. "…by being perfect."

Everyone looked gobsmacked.

"I'm serious! He is!" Severus said emphatically and even Harry was laughing this time, Severus could see his shoulders shaking though he wasn't laughing out loud.

He crossed his arms and frowned; he was being perfectly honest and couldn't see what was so funny about what he'd said.

"Would you care to elaborate on that?"

"Why, so you can laugh at me again?" Severus snarled, refusing to look at anyone.

"Please accept our apologies; it's just we...or at least _I_ have never heard an answer like that before in my life. Truly."

Severus looked at Bones in suspicion, judging if he will bother to answer or not. "All right. But I don't understand your question, what is there to elaborate on?"

"Well let me put it this way: What makes Harry perfect in your eyes? Does he always give you sweets, buy you things, what?"

"Of course not! He gives me candy sometimes but not all the time, it's not healthy. And he only buys me books if I'm not grounded…Harry's perfect because he understands me, he answers my questions, teaches me...He's perfect because he protects me and sings to me to sleep if I wake from a nightmare and he takes care of all of us. He makes sure we all eat well, checks if we're sick, feeling sad, or lonely, checks to see whether we're cold or hot...whatever. He's always there, always gentle…always caring…and he makes the most _delicious_ chocolate mousse pie, not even an elf can make a better one." This time he smiled right along with everyone else if for different reasons, Harry only cooked for _them_, these fools had no idea what they were missing.

Soon after Bones and Brown left to 'deliberate' and everyone else was left to sit around and wait. Well mostly. Harry kept himself busy by keeping a watchful eye on Tobias, while Eileen tried to keep Severus entertained, and Tobias just glared at everyone else.

It didn't take long to come to a decision however; it was a done deal as soon as Tobias refused to take Veritaserum to back up his claims of no child abuse.

Still, Severus _really_ enjoyed seeing him get taken away in a full body bind, wriggling like a worm on a hook, by the two Aurors that had to been called into the courtroom...It was the stuff of fantasies really.

HPSSHPSSHPSSHPSSHPSS

"You don't have to wait for me. I don't know how long this is going to take and I'm sure you're both hungry by now. Maybe you can eat lunch out today if you want, did you bring your money pouch?" Harry asked Eileen. The Potter case will be starting in 15 minutes and he saw no reason to make them wait for him.

Severus spoke up before she could say anything one way or the other. "I would rather eat at home, let's just go. I've had enough of these Ministry numskulls."

Harry raised an eyebrow at that but didn't say anything else when Eileen agreed. They left quickly, not wanting to spend any more time at the Ministry than they had to. In truth, Harry was glad to have this time to center himself before he faced the next case.

"Mr. Harry Potter, may I have a word with you before we reenter the courtroom?" He heard Harold Potter ask in a low voice, standing a little too close for comfort.

"You have made your opinion of my person quite clear, Mr. Potter. I assure you I have nothing to say to my accuser, nor is there anything to discuss that will not be cleared up at court. Excuse me." With that Harry walked away without waiting for a response.

He didn't know what Harold really thought about him but it didn't matter. He didn't want anything to do with his 'grandfather'; he had too much going on to over-complicate things unnecessarily. But if he can pull this off, it will help cement his identity in this reality and keep suspicion at bay when he had to deal with Dumbledore later on.

Plus he needed a moment to calm down from what he'd found earlier that day.

He had known that Tobias was an unpleasant character but he had not expected to find such evil when he'd looked into his mind. He had felt such overwhelming rage when he'd learned about what he'd done.

Professor Snape, his mentor and almost parent, had been a much tormented man. He had never spoken to Harry about his childhood or why he had joined the Death Eaters, but the few things that he'd let slip let Harry know that he had not done so of his own free will. Though Harry had no doubt that the Professor cared for him, Snape himself had not been one for demonstrations of affection or poignant personal discussions. He had always been available if Harry needed advice or needed to talk to someone, but he had rarely spoken about his personal life; which is why Harry had been instantly overwhelmed by a blazing titillation of rage and pain when he had seen Voldemort in Tobias' memory. Voldemort already had the red eyes and bony, unattractive features but he wasn't the snake-faced Voldemort he'd known. It was a bit worrying that he was already gathering new recruits but not unexpected, Harry had known that Voldemort had begun gathering followers possibly as early as 1965; he'd just hoped he would have more time to get organized.

Tobias, the fiend had not only become a Death Eater but he'd also promised Severus to him in return for financial security for the next 20 years. He had disposed of his only son as if he were nothing more than chattel.

Indeed, Tobias' mind had been such a cold twisted mass of malevolence that he still felt tainted by it. As if the man's turpitude had been an actual physical entity, it had left behind a repulsive residue in Harry's mind that he could not easily rid himself of. The only thing that had stopped him from killing him on the spot had been young Severus' calming presence. Just knowing that _this_ Severus will have a choice, that he will never be given over to Voldemort, had calmed him down enough to continue with the court proceedings.

Harry knew that Voldemort was not someone accepting of failure. Tobias was sure to resort to desperate measures now that he'd lost his final chance to establish an influential link to his son and Harry was determined to do everything in his power to assure their safety. He will have to talk to Eileen about what he'd learned but he wasn't sure how much to tell Severus. He didn't think it necessary for him to know the particulars of his father's 'transaction' as long as he realized how dangerous Tobias really was.

He checked the time, it was time to begin.

This time, the only ones present were the two officers from the Office of Family Law and the Court Scribe, along with the two Potters. "Charge of Identity Theft by Family Head, Harold Potter, today is the fourth of February and for the record: Presiding today is Officer Benjamin Bones, Head of the Office of Family Law & Procedure; the Attending is Officer Dominic Brown; and the Court Scribe is Robert Diggory."

Brown started off the hearing swiftly, since everyone already knew each other. "Mr. Harold Potter, as a Family Head you have the power to act with legal authority should you feel you or your family has been wronged/endangered. However, let me remind you that if we proceed to an investigation due to your accusations against Mr. Harry Potter and your accusations are thereafter proven baseless, you will lose the right to legal prosecution of anyone else for the same transgression for the next 10 years. Do you still wish to accuse Mr. Harry Potter of Identity Theft?"

"No, I do not."

Everyone was surprised at that pronouncement, though Harry's expression didn't change other than a slight narrowing of eyes.

"You have found something negating his culpability?" Officer Bones inquired with interest, it was not everyday such charges were recanted.

"More like I have found evidence that he is under an assumed identity. At first I had believed he was trying to pass himself off as me. It wouldn't be the first time someone has tried to impersonate an established pureblood through the use of potions or dark arts for nefarious purposes. As I am sure you realize his name is a common moniker for 'Harold' and when I first met him he looked like a younger version of me; so I filed a complaint with your office as a precaution. However, soon after, as I tried to gather evidence for my case I realized this was not accurate. In fact, no one even knew of a Harry Potter and the more I tried to find out about him the more it became obvious that no one even knew him. Still, even with this peculiarity I was ready to dismiss all charges completely today…until I saw that he bears the Potter Blood Mark."

Harry arched an eyebrow, he'd never heard of a Potter Blood Mark and he wondered why no one had mentioned him. He had been at the Ministry twice before and spent a lot of time at Diagon Alley when he'd first arrived, after all.

Then again, he had not really gone anywhere after that; everything that was needed at home was bought by Noodle or Eileen and now Kura as well. He also placed all bets by owl post, something which had become even easier when Master Grod had taken over management of his account soon after he opened it.

"Potter Blood Mark? What is it exactly; I'm not familiar with the term?" Officer Bones asked for clarification with a furrowed brow.

"There is no reason why you should. Only Potter Family Heads are ever told about it, for they are they only once with the ability to see it. The Blood Mark appears on everyone of Potter blood-"

Harry snorted and then sneered at him with disdain. "If you think I am going to sit here and listen to you spout about invisible marks only you can see-"

"Mr. Harry Potter please, you will be allowed to voice your opinions at a later time. I understand you are muggle-born and not completely familiar with our world but what Mr. Harold Potter is saying is not unreasonable."

"Oh really? And just how do you know this when you had not even heard of it before he mentioned it?" Harry demanded rationally.

Silence.

"Muggle-born? You are claiming to be a muggle-born?" Harold asked in astonishment.

"I AM muggle-born and proud of it…Another reason why I found your accusation insulting."

"That's ridiculous; you don't act like a muggle-born at all! Everyone here can see that!"

"I don't know what you mean by that and as I have already said, I am muggle-born. A _true_ muggle-born, actually."

"True muggle-born, what do you speak of? A muggle-born is a muggle-born, and _you_ are not one of them. You're too powerful and you act too much like a pureblood…the very idea is absurd!" Harold said with conviction, the Officers and Scribe didn't say anything but it was apparent that they agreed with him.

"A true muggle-born is someone with no magical roots whatsoever. The so called muggle-borns that come into the wizarding world are squib descendants, not true muggle-borns." Harry said with cool confidence as he leaned back on his chair.

"Preposterous, I don't know where you came up with these outlandish ideas but it doesn't change the fact that you are one of _us_. You bear a Potter Blood Mark, which means you are a half-blood at the very least and that you fall under the protection of the Potter family, _my_ family."

Harry glared at him and Officer Bones finally intervened before things got even more heated.

"Please, both of you, calm down. Let me see if I have this straight. Mr. Harold Potter has withdrawn the Identity Theft charge….and is now accusing Mr. Harry Potter of sustaining a false identity…because he won't accept that he is not a muggle-born and is in fact a member of the wizarding Potter family - do I understand this correctly?" He asked with plain incredulity.

"Correct, and you know I am within my rights to claim my family as such. As a Head of Family it is my right and indeed my duty to see that every member of my family is taken care of. I have identified this man as a member of _the_ Potter family and I demand you make this clear to him. It is obvious he's a close relative of mine just by looking at him!"

"Actually, he does not look like you all that much, other than the hair color…" Officer Brown finally butted in and Harold glared daggers at him.

"I don't know what he did to himself but when I met him his eyes were both the same color and he didn't have that tattoo on his face." Harold said stiffly, disapproval clear in his voice.

"It's not a tattoo, it's a scar and the less I look like you the better." Harry said, standing up and ignoring their gaping expressions. "Now, since this hearing is nothing but a travesty of the law, I'm leaving."

However, before he could reach the doors someone sent a spell right at them and magically sealed them.

Now, Harry was really getting angry. This trial was pure folly, nothing like what he had imagined or planned for. He had used the little time he'd been allowed to ready a defense against Identity Theft, not to deal with a stuck-up pureblood seeking to have him under his thumb just because he was powerful wizard and looked enough like a Potter to pass for family. Harry knew that heads of magical families like Harold had authority and a certain amount of power over their families, including the adults, and Harry refused to live under the thumb of a conceited prick.

"We are not finished here, and whether you believe this to be foolish or not Mr. Harold Potter's request is decisively legitimate. While you are within your right to ignore your family, if that is indeed the case, it is still illegal to impersonate something/someone you are not. Now, my records only indicate that you registered as a muggle-born and a British wizard, 19 years of age. You took your N.E.W.T.'s here but no O.W.L.'s and we have no history of your parentage, profession, schooling, or any other family relations other than your marriage to Ms. Eileen Prince. You did all of this within a few days in early January, surely you can see why Mr. Harold Potter's claims make sense?"

"No I don't. My identity was established when I registered with the Ministry, there is nothing else you need to know." Harry said, completely exasperated. He had been keeping his mental shields up all morning but considering the situation he decided to lower them and focus on Harold before he decided on a course of action.

What he found surprised him. Harold felt frustrated about Harry's denial but he truly believed himself to be doing the right thing.

"Let me think for a moment please." Harry told the others in the room and faced the courtroom doors to ponder this new turn of events. He had no plans to build any sort of relationship with the Potter family and still thought that would be the best course of action. However, if Harold felt so strongly about family ties, how could he get him to desist when he could see the Blood Mark?

This was not a problem he had anticipated having to deal with, he could somewhat forgive Harold's actions because acting like a conceited peacock was typical of purebloods but it didn't do anything endear him to him in any way. In fact, Harry couldn't wait to get out of there; he was tired, angry/annoyed, hungry, and just wanted to go home.

In the end, he decided to leave Harold for later and just concentrate on proving his muggle-born status. He turned to address the court once more. "If I can prove I am muggle-born, will that make you cease this foolish charade?"

"Yes." Bones replied in a steady tone but Harry could still feel his irritation with him; he believed Harold was right. Harry raised his mental shields once more and spoke with composed resignation.

"I would like to call Master Grod to testify in my favor then. Just let me know when the next court date will be, to finish-"

"NO. Is this Master Grod a goblin? I don't care who it is…we need to finish this now. I will pay whatever I have to; just get this cleared up now!" Harold exclaimed, a vein visible at his temple.

Two hours later, a much calmer Harry saw a very unhappy looking Grod enter the courtroom. Harold seemed about ready for an apoplexy while the Ministry personnel, though trying to keep a professional air, still looked plain bored.

Harry stood up to greet the disgruntled Goblin. "Master Grod, please accept my apologies. These wizards won't accept that I'm a true muggle-born and you are the only one that knows this fact beyond a shadow of a doubt."

"Well you're a smart bastard then. Goblins are under a Truth Seal, we cannot lie while inside the physical boundaries of the Ministry; an insurance policy should Goblin integrity concerning wizarding funds ever come into question…" Harry frowned, he had not known that.

"I find such an act horribly insulting," he told Master Grod and bowed once again, this time deeper. "I had not known about that, I only requested your presence as my witness. Will you please join me for a meal after we get out of here? I know a good restaurant with a very unique outlook concerning their clientele's victuals." He ignored the gasps and animated mutterings of the other wizards in the room as he focused on Master Grod's inscrutable expression.

Master Grod finally nodded and walked up to the other wizards. "Mr. Potter is not lying. He is in fact a _true_ muggle-born."

"You mean true muggle-borns actually exist?" Bones asked, astonished. The others were just as shocked, for they all knew the Goblin couldn't lie.

"Of course. Mr. Potter is the first true-muggle born to open an account with Gringotts since Rowena Ravenclaw. The ones you view as muggle-born are in fact half-bloods, for they are descendants of squibs with, obviously, magical roots. Unlike Ministry Blood-Linage Parchment, ours go all the way back to a witch/wizard's first magical ancestor, not just the first 14 generations." No one could form a coherent sentence after that. Bones kept opening his mouth but no words came out while Harold kept muttering about how Harry didn't act like a muggle-born.

"Just how is a muggle-born supposed to act, Mr. Potter?" Harry finally asked, since everyone had seemed to focus so much on this one particular idea. "Do you even know any so-called 'muggle-borns'? Did you expect me to act like a frightened idiot, ignorant of this world and everything in it? I, just like any other muggle-born, have the ability to read. The truth is that you probably already know a muggle-born but are probably passing themselves off as a half-blood just to keep prejudice at bay. Whole libraries have been published concerning wizarding history, etiquette, and customs; anyone with a grain of intelligence realizes it makes sense for anyone to familiarize themselves with the world they are expected to live in. We are not the weak childish idiots you believe us to be. I want nothing from prejudiced, narrow-minded fools like you or anyone else that shares your views. If you're too stuck on your ways to see the truth right in front of your eyes, then you're all even bigger fools than I thought."

With that Harry overpowered the seal on the doors and stepped out, followed by the cackling Gringotts Goblin.

No one bothered trying to stop him.


	3. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Harry Potter; None of the original story and/or characters are mine in any way nor do I make any money from these writings.

**A Chance at Life**

**Chapter 11**: Meeting Hoochs

_February 13 _

It had been almost ten days since the Ministry hearing and the gossip mill was still going strong. Somehow a reporter had gotten wind of the existence of 'true' muggle-borns and the British wizarding world was buzzing with the discovery. Now everyone was moving heaven and earth trying to find the 'only' true-muggle-born among them; according to Eileen the _Daily Prophet_ had even gone so far as to offer a reward for any information concerning his whereabouts. Severus thought the whole thing was a riot.

Harry just ignored it. He already had enough to do training Severus, evading Harold, finishing his carvings, and setting up the final security wards around their property.

After a very enlightening meal with Nagnot that day (they were on a first-name basis now), Harry had returned home to talk things over with Eileen. She had been horrified by Tobias' actions but had taken the danger to her son very seriously. She had even started joining them in the evenings for training. In a way Harry was pleased about it, for it brought them together as a family and didn't make Eileen feel so isolated anymore. He felt like they were truly becoming close friends now. Harry now tried not to call Severus 'Sev' anymore, in an effort not to emphasize his closeness to Severus, but it still slipped out from time to time. She still became sad when Severus didn't let her touch his hair or hug him for too long, but things were going well overall.

Now, if only the gossiping would stop he would be even happier.

HPSSHPSSHPSSHPSSHPSS

_February 14 (Wednesday, 1am)_

Harry had promised Eileen that he'd gather the Deadly Nightshade this full moon for her, though they'd decided not to tell Severus to keep him from throwing a tantrum. Harry had gone in enough potion gathering expeditions with Professor Snape that he'd memorized where the herb grew; the Forbidden Forest was one of the few places in Scotland where it grew in abundance and he knew the forest well enough to be relatively safe while in there at night.

He didn't care for potions, he only brewed them when he absolutely had to and he had learned so much about the subject because it had been a necessity, but he had no love for the art. However, he did understand his family's love for potion brewing and was happy to be able to keep them happy. Harry actually knew enough to hold his own in a conversation with a potion's master as long as it didn't get too specialized, so he was able to at least discuss the subject well enough with his family to keep them content.

He was wearing daggers on both legs, his wand was in his arm holster, and he was already carrying Gryffindor's sword on his hip. He also had the herb pouch tied to his belt. He knew he could not physically touch the plants or they would be useless as potion ingredients, but he had enough practice at it that he was not worried about the task itself. He was far more worried about what he might encounter in the forest instead.

By now, Harry was well known by the bigger animals there, including the thestrals, unicorns, acromantulas, and the occasional hippogriff. Surprisingly, he hadn't run into any trouble while he gathered the plants. He'd sensed the presence of two beings near him but they had no malice he could detect, so he pretended not to know they were there.

He had just finished his task and was about to head home when he heard a howl…a werewolf howl. He felt the fear from the two beings near him and quickly tied the pouch back onto his belt before calling out to them. "Youngsters, come here please, there is a werewolf nearby. I will see you to your land's borders, hurry!"

Harry tried to sound reassuring and calm, so as not to panic the young centaurs (he thought they were centaurs anyway). He heard rustling in front of him and then he saw the upper body of a terrified red-headed centaur-child, followed by a golden-haired one.

"Come! I will escort you to the nearest boundary; there should be a guard near enough to show you back home." Harry told them as he started running as fast as he could, he knew they would have no problem keeping up with him. He then left the narrow trail he'd been using and plunged into the dense trees on his right side, trying to get the youngsters home by the shortest route he knew.

About 40 feet from his destination he saw and heard an arrow embed itself into the tree trunk right beside his head.

"…Guard, I found these younglings in the forest, please see them home, there is a werewolf coming this way!" He called out; though he couldn't see the guard, he knew he was there. The young centaurs had bolted right past him when they'd seen the arrow, so he turned around and was about to head back to the trail in order to apparate home when he had the sudden impulse to turn into his animagus form. He didn't wonder about it, he just did it… just in time to get barreled over by the biggest werewolf he'd ever laid eyes on.

Harry had never seen one so big, he was bigger than Greyback, and he'd been bigger than Moony, who'd been on the large end of the scale. Harry quickly tucked his tail between his legs and lowered his belly to the ground, whining softly to show he was no threat. He'd never been so relieved that he had a canine animagus form, at least this way he could somewhat understand the werewolf's vocalizations.

Harry laid there on the ground while the werewolf paced around him, sniffing him here and there. He even had a unique coloring for a werewolf, a dark golden brown; most werewolves' coloring ranged from almost-white-grey to black. Then they were joined by another werewolf, this one smaller and leaner, with silver-grey fur.

At least Harry thought it was another werewolf until he saw her eyes, her pupils were elliptical - like a cat's, and he realized she was a lycan. As she approached, the werewolf took a step back and barked excitedly at her. She sniffed at Harry as well and looked him over for a long minute before nodding her head and nosing his side to get him up. Harry got up hesitantly, not really sure what they wanted with him, but he didn't want to try running away unless he absolutely had to, nor did he wish to hurt them. So, flanked by the lycan and werewolf, they moved back to the trail Harry had been heading to earlier.

The lycan transformed into her human form; Harry politely kept his eyes firmly on her golden ones and away from her nudity. He recognized her: she was a young Madam Hooch. Her light-grey hair was longer and looked more like molten steel than the chrome color he remembered, but he was sure it was her.

"You have been around our kind before." It was a statement not a question. "You are not afraid of us and you were not surprised by my transformation." She continued as she scratched the werewolf behind an ear. She wasn't very tall, probably standing around 5'5" while the werewolf was about four feet from paw to shoulder, his head lowered for her to reach his ear easily.

"My brother likes you, which you should be proud of, he has never allowed anyone near him in this form, other than me of course. Will you run with us tonight, wolf?" She asked politely and Harry seriously considered the offer. He missed his old runs with Moony and he wanted to learn more about Hooch. In his original timeline she had disappeared as soon as Voldemort's return had been acknowledged by the Ministry. Everyone had assumed she'd been another early casualty of war but now he wasn't so sure about that. He accepted.

He had fun unlike he'd had in months. He enjoyed training Severus and Eileen but it couldn't really be compared to this. This running around, playful tussling, and general roughhousing reminded him of the good times he'd spent with Moony, but this werewolf was refreshingly different as well. He was much more playful and wasn't afraid to toss him around. The lycan simply sat back and watched them, the few times Harry had tried to include her the werewolf had growled at him and placed himself between them until Harry gave up trying to approach her. They had finally fallen asleep a few hours before dawn in one big mass of fur, somehow with Harry in the middle once again. He woke up later when he heard pained whimpering from the werewolf beside him.

Dawn had come. He stayed beside the werewolf, nosing him gently to let him know he wasn't alone. Remus had always told him how physical contact made the transformation less painful. When it was over Harry transformed back as well. He heard a gasp but didn't acknowledge it as he looked around for something to transfigure and expanded his senses to see if he could trust these people. He relaxed a little more when he couldn't find anything threatening though.

Harry soon found two twigs big enough and silently transfigured them into two large cloaks. He threw one in the lycan's direction and knelt next to the werewolf to cover him up. He was a young man, about 19 or 20, maybe about 6 feet tall with light golden-brown hair and sharp features but still handsome.

"We have never seen you here before." She stated as he heard her putting on the cloak, the question clear.

"I'm new around here; Harry Potter, muggle-born." He clarified so there wouldn't be any misunderstandings. He gave her a small formal bow, wand-arm behind his back and waited to see if she would introduce herself.

She looked at his face for a few seconds longer and then picked up her sleeping brother with ease, carefully carrying him over one shoulder. "Follow us please. I am Rolanda Hooch and this is my brother, Kyle. I'm a 5th year at Hogwarts; my brother just prefers to spend his full moons with me though he's already graduated…my brother's really gonna beat himself up for tiring himself out so much he missed seeing you in your true form. I'm sure he would like to meet with you again..." She said with a mischievous laugh.

"I am not opposed to the idea…How about I meet him for lunch in a couple days? I will be at the Hogshead this Friday from 12-2. Considering he's unconscious at the moment, it will be up to him if he chooses to show up or not." Harry proposed. After all, the more allies he had in his corner the less they were likely to be tempted by Voldemort.

As he headed for home he wondered what Eileen and Severus will think about his new acquaintances.

HPSSHPSSHPSSHPSSHPSS

Harry was a soft-hearted idiot! Severus was so furious he was shaking. He could not believe what Harry was doing, had he completely lost his mind?

When Harry had told them he had an appointment for lunch on Friday he had remained silent though he hadn't been too happy with idea. But then Harry had started spouting off about werewolves and lycans and Severus had to contain the urge to strangle him.

He'd already felt a bit apprehensive when Harry had started talking about becoming friends with the centaurs, and he'd even accepted his friendship with the goblin, but this confirmed his suspicions: Harry was blind when it came to how dangerous magical beings could be. Perhaps it was because he was muggle-born, maybe he didn't want to believe what was common knowledge but that didn't change the fact that he was placing himself in dangerous situations for no good reason!

Just because a dark creature didn't kill you on the spot doesn't mean he wants to be you best friend…and now Harry had a lunch date with a werewolf!

Severus had made up his mind: Harry was not going and that was final!

HPSSHPSSHPSSHPSSHPSS

_February 16_

Eileen sighed before knocking and entering her son's room. Severus had been ignoring everyone the last two days, though he did answer Kura every once in a while. Eileen had tried everything she could think of to get him to talk to her, but whatever it was he found so unforgivable about werewolves, he was keeping to himself.

The past two days had been torturous and Eileen had stopped trying to intercede between Harry and Severus. Once Harry had given up trying to talk sense into him and he had resorted to ignoring Severus in return. They were both acting like petulant children, but in a strange way she felt comforted by Harry's behavior. It showed her that he wasn't perfect and that for all his maturity he still had a little more growing up to do. It also made her happy that he felt comfortable enough with them to show this part of himself.

"Honey, can we talk? Harry just left." Severus was sitting on his bed, reading _Born a_ _Human-Vampire: A Guide;_ he had taken to rereading that book whenever he was frustrated or angry.

Severus put down the book and looked at her a moment before nodding.

"Was he still angry at me?" He asked her, looking depressed.

"I don't think he was ever angry, just frustrated. What is the problem?" Eileen asked him as she sat down on the end of the bed. Severus huffed, jumped out of bed and started pacing in front of her.

"Harry! I mean, what kind of person goes to a forest during a full moon to collect potion ingredients and then ends up spend the night running around with a couple of werewolves? What was he thinking? Where is his sense of self-preservation?"

Eileen chose not to comment and just allowed him to vent, it seemed like he needed it. She had never seen him so emotional before. He was waving his arms around erratically and almost stomping his feet in frustration.

"…and he ignored my advice not to go! He doesn't know anything about this random werewolf. What if he doesn't show up alone? What if he gets kidnapped, or attacked, or hurt?...and then…" He trailed off and stopped moving, looking at the floor, his shoulders hunching as he sighed.

"He laughed at me…I asked to go with him so I could protect him and he laughed at me." His voice so low it was almost a whisper and though Eileen couldn't see his face, she could hear the hurt in his voice.

"Honey, I'm sure he wasn't laughing at you."

"It's not that, I know he wasn't making fun of me…It's just…he dismissed my offer to help without a second thought. Why is it so absurd to want to protect him like he protects us? I know I'm still young but that doesn't mean I will just let him go off and do stupid things on his own. If I can't stop him going into danger, I want to least be there to make sure he doesn't get himself killed."

"Severus, I know you hate to be reminded of this but you are only a child, and Harry is more than capable of taking care of himself."

"I still say he's still acting like a fool but I won't always be a weak kid." He turned to face her with determination burning in his eyes. "Soon, I will be able to protect _him_ and when that time comes, I won't allow him to push me away again."


	4. Chapter 12

**Author's Note: **A million apologies for the super long wait; I'm still not happy with this chapter but I decided to just post it as it is (I'll probably rewrite it once I finish this fic). Thank you for your patience and I hope this chapter is at least acceptable for now.

_**Happy Holidays Everyone!**_

**A Chance at Life**

**Chapter 12**: Werewolves & Lycans

_February 14 (Wednesday 8:30am)_

Kyle Hooch awoke with a slight jerk, his six foot frame protesting as various aches and pains made themselves known.

"How do you feel?"

He ignored his sister's muffled laughter and took a quick look around to verify that they were alone in their little forest den. He then wondered at her odd behavior as he stretched out the kinks; usually she tried to drown him in painkillers or smother him with warm blankets after a full moon.

"Like I've been ran over by a herd of Mûmakil and so happy I could burst at the same time."

Rolanda stopped laughing and looked at him with bit of pity in her gaze. "You've been asleep for almost half an hour now; _he_ left soon after your transformation…What exactly is it that attracts you to him? You haven't even seen him in human form yet." His sister asked in curiosity.

"He smells right…and really good," Kyle told her, his eyes shut as he stood up gingerly. "Under his wolf smell, he smells like a wizard but…better, powerful, stronger …. sweeter."

Kyle remembered when he'd first smelled that breathtaking, intoxicating scent. It reminded him of strawberries with a dash of cinnamon and something else he couldn't identify, but which made his scent different from any other animagus he'd ever encountered. At first, in the very depths of his humanity, he'd been afraid his sister would be too late to stop him from attacking the wizard, but by the time he'd reached his goal the wizard had already shifted into his animagus form. A wolf with black fur and beautiful green eyes; though both were green his right one was noticeably lighter than the other one. He also had a white streak of fur that looked almost like a crescent moon, starting from the corner of his right eye and arching upward but leaning slightly to the right: He was a beautiful wolf.

Even small and a little too skinny, Kyle had taken one look at his tucked in tail and big green eyes, not showing the slightest hint of fear, and he'd known he was goner.

Werewolves, unlike true magical creatures (lycans, vampires, veelas, etc.), didn't have destined mates. Werewolves chose their mates, usually by way of scent but sometimes through magical compatibility. For Kyle, it was a combination of both. Though at the beginning his scent had been an overwhelming attractant, his magic had also reacted to him at dawn. The animagus had stayed in contact with him all the way through his transformation and Kyle had never had it easier. He'd felt the animagus' strong magical aura wrap around him gently, almost protectively, soothing the pain and calming his wolf without it feeling overbearing or forceful. It was part of the reason why he had fallen asleep so soon and so deeply afterward; his inner wolf had never felt such a calm and caring aura from a non-pack member. In fact, not even pack had ever had such a profound effect on his wolf.

Kyle knew things were not going to be easy; it will be hard for his family to even take him seriously to begin with. In lycan/werewolf terms he was still regarded as a teenager since males were not considered adults until their 30th birthday or until they'd mated, whichever came first. But regardless of his youth, he knew he had found his chosen and he will do everything in his power to convince his chosen mate and his family of his sincerity.

"He's an interesting character, Harry Potter; no relation to the pureblood Potters. In fact he made it a point to introduce himself as a muggle-born." Kyle perked up as Rolanda began speaking again.

"What else did he tell you? What does he look like? How old is he? What-?" His sister smiled sadly at him and cut him off before he kept on babbling questions.

"Kyle, calm down. We didn't talk much; it wouldn't be proper not to mention that you were unconscious and hanging over my shoulder at the time. Brother… are you sure he's the one? He might already be with someone or-"

"NO. He didn't smell mated, surely you noticed that." Kyle replied heatedly. He didn't want to be thinking of Harry with someone else.

"Of course I did but you know just as I do that that doesn't mean anything. He might still already be with someone. And you are young; perhaps you have made a mistake."

Kyle contained the urge to growl at his sister. Even though he was older, she was higher in pack hierarchy. Not only was she a lycan, but she was also a female; females came into adulthood at 20, thus she was to be treated as his elder. Instead, he looked away from her and didn't say anything, if he spoke up there was a good chance he'd end up on his back, baring neck and asking for forgiveness. He wasn't in the mood for dominance games however.

He heard a deep sigh. "All right, I won't try to change your mind, but our parents won't be happy about this."

Kyle thought about his mother. She had been dreading this moment ever since they learned about it. Most werewolves lived out their lives alone and unhappy, for it was extremely rare for their chosen mates to accept them as they were. He was very much aware that chances were he would never be accepted by his chosen, but there was nothing he could do about that. At least his father accepted it and understood him even if his mom refused to think of it.

His mother, Xiomara, had been with Charles for over fifteen years now and he felt privileged to call him Father. When Kyle had been bitten as a young child his mother had gone to Charles for guidance and they'd ended up together, having Rolanda soon after.

He knew he was very lucky to have such a loving family, not to mention his dad's extensive lycan pack. Though Charles was a werewolf, he had been adopted by a lycan family when his own family had abandoned him. He was rather exceptional in that he had managed to achieve alpha status despite being a werewolf; as such he had earned the right to begin a pack of his own and did, though he preferred to live with his wife and children rather than tending to a pack in the full sense of the word.

As Kyle listened to his sister tell him what had happened after dawn and they got ready to leave their den, he plotted. Since he wasn't yet an adult and as his father was also his alpha, his father still had the final say in everything concerning him. He knew his father would never agree to him meeting Harry on his own, so he will have to keep Rolanda silent about this little encounter until after he'd had a chance to meet with Harry this Friday. After all, 'better to beg forgiveness than ask permission,' right?

HPSSHPSSHPSSHPSSHPSS

_February 16 (Friday 12:10pm)_

"Good afternoon, Mr. Hooch."

Kyle barely managed keep his jaw from hitting the floor. The man standing in front of him looked like a short teenager…if a rather striking teenager. He looked just like her sister had described him: short, slim, wild black hair, interesting facial tattoo, beautiful eyes and a restrained, but overall pleasant persona.

Harry had been sitting at the right corner table away from the counter but nearest the main door. Somehow, he has turned to see him as soon as Kyle set foot inside the murky establishment and had stood up in welcome with a polite bow and nothing more, establishing a meeting of equals. At the gesture, Kyle felt his heart race in surging pleasure, allowing himself a moment to bask in the scent and magic of his chosen before greeting him in kind.

"Good afternoon and please just call me Kyle." He somehow kept his voice level as he tried to subtly take in as much as possible about this young man that appeared remarkably comfortable in a full length cloak and casual robes, both in a midnight-black that matched that wild hair of his.

"As you wish…Tell me…Did you discuss our meeting with the rest of your pack before coming?" Harry asked him.

"How do you mean? What does it matter?" Kyle responded, not expecting to begin their lunch date with such a question.

"Well, I was just wondering why they would be sitting under glamour a few tables away if you had." Harry replied with a hint of a smile as he sat down again calmly.

"What?!" Kyle asked in hoarse whisper as he practically fell into his own seat.

Instead of answering, Harry just gave a slight nod towards the nearest occupied table and they spent the next few minutes in silence, only speaking to order a couple of butterbeers before settling down to begin.

Finally, Kyle turned slightly to confirm where Harry had motioned his family was seated and as he turned back to face Harry he felt his face flush in mortification. He saw no possible way in which his chosen will see him as a responsible adult after this.

"Don't worry. I'm sure they're just looking out for you. It's not unreasonable to want to protect your family." Harry told him kindly. Kyle didn't know how to respond to this new development; things were not going at all as he had planned. "From your reaction I'm guessing you did not discuss this with them…?"

"Yeah…," he frowned slightly.

"Since they have not revealed themselves, I am willing to take that to mean they don't oppose this meeting taking place, so, would you like to continue?"

Kyle nodded mutely.

"...All right then, first of all I would like to apologize for speaking to Ms. Hooch that day. But, you were unconscious and…"

"Don't worry about that, my family is not really that big on traditional etiquette and all that."

"In that case I am happy I didn't offend her. Now, for the reason that I requested this meeting: I would like to extend an offer of friendship and also put forward a proposition to the werewolf communities. Actually it would be more of an announcement if you advice me to go ahead with my idea."

Kyle slouched on his seat slightly and sulked silently as he realized that there was no chance this could be a simple 'let's get to know each other' type of get-together. "Why exactly did you request a meeting with me, Harry?"

Harry blinked, looking a little surprised by the question before answering. "It would have been improper to request a meeting with a senior member of your pack without suitable introductions. I truly enjoyed our meeting this past full moon and I would enjoy getting to know you and, if possible, your pack. At the same time, I would like to ask your opinion about a project I'm starting, and with time, possibly your family's opinion. If your alpha feels I'm worthy of association, of course."

This time it was Kyle's turn to blink as he thought the answer over. It was clear that Harry was well learned in pack protocol and most likely on their social structure and traditions as well; which meant that he knew Kyle was not an adult werewolf and the more he thought about it the more he felt his chances dwindling into nothing.

"Kyle, are you all right?" Harry asked sounding concerned but Kyle simply closed his eyes and inhaled as much of his chosen's scent as possible before speaking, still keeping his eyes closed.

"How old are you Harry?"

"Um, I'm 19 almost 20."

"Family?"

"Yes…My wife, Eileen, and my stepson, Severus."

And with that fateful answer he felt his world come crashing down on him.

HPSSHPSSHPSSHPSSHPSS

Harry immediately stood up in shock. He had no idea what had just happened. He had found Kyle's whole reaction to him puzzling. He'd thought they'd gotten along fine during the full moon, so he was at a loss as to what could be the problem now. He'd been acting a little odd but Harry's senses hadn't picked up anything threatening, only embarrassment and for some unknown reason, sadness.

Now that sadness had plunged straight into despair and Harry had no choice but wait for Kyle's enraged alpha to approach him and take his arm in a bruising hold. He knew better than to resist a protective werewolf and allowed himself to be guided outside by Rolanda and her father while their other pack member took care of Kyle's hunched form at their former table.

"What the hell did you do to my son?" The alpha demanded as he threw Harry against the nearest tree as soon as they'd reached the cover of the Forbidden Forest. Harry had never reached the Forbidden Forest so quickly in his life

He got his breath knocked out for a moment as his back hit the tree trunk, but answered without fear or anger as soon as he could breathe again, making sure not to look the werewolf in the eyes as he did so. "I simply answered his questions. I did not bewitch him or attack him in any way."

Harry knew the werewolf will be able to scent his truthfulness and waited for the alpha's next move. His back hurt and his arm was sore, but his instincts didn't give any indication that he should attack so he simply held himself with caution but without hostility.

He saw Rolanda place a hand on her father's shoulder with a faint growl before she spoke up herself. "What were the questions and your answers?" She demanded, but unlike her father she didn't sound angry.

"He asked my age and about my family. I told him I was 19 and that my family was my wife and stepson."

Silence.

As the others shifted looking a bit chagrined, Harry became aware of the presence of two magical signatures moving swiftly toward their position. He didn't shift his position, not wanting to risk as a misunderstanding, but he did turn his head to face the newcomers as they burst through the woods and into their sights.

It was Firenze and Ronan.

Firenze stepped forward t speak, away from Ronan's line of fire; though their weapons were not pointed at him or his…acquaintances, the centaur Guards were definitely unhappy about something.

"Do you find your self in need of our assistance, Harry Potter?" Firenze asked him, with a mere glance at the others since Ronan was keeping his eyes on the others.

"No, thank you Firenze. I'm fine." Harry replied quickly, hoping to dispel the tense atmosphere suddenly surrounding them.

"You are in pain, young one. You honored the First Rite of Alliance and now you are attacked by beings you have protected our foals from. Do you doubt centaurian honor to comply with that which was promised?"

Harry slowly took a step away from the tree and placed his left hand over his heart. "I am honored and gratified by your protection. However, as I have said, this is simply a misunderstanding: this alpha is protecting his family and is within his rights to act as he has." Harry then bowed slightly and waited for their response.

"The council shall hear what has transpired…._May the stars illuminate our way_…."

Harry then finished the traditional blessing of departure before they banished into the forest once again. "_And may our paths commune under the stars._"

"You sure have interesting friends, Harry." Rolanda said with a hint of laughter in her voice once they were alone once more. Harry turned to face them again and was met with a bored alpha and a laughing lycan.

"My son's upset will pass. What did you want to meet with him for?" The tall werewolf demanded and Harry didn't bother to ask for an explanation; he was neither pack nor ally, therefore the alpha was not obliged to give him an answer.

"I wished to extend an offer of friendship to both Kyle and your pack. I also seek his advice."

"Advice? My boy is barely a day older than you are; why would you seek his advice?" The alpha asked with a scoff.

"Because he's a werewolf." Harry answered frankly and continued as he saw the alpha's eyes narrow in displeasure.

"What do you know of the Wolvesbane Potion…?"

"Wolvesbane? Never heard of it; what does it do?"

"It allows werewolves to keep their human minds during the full moon. It was invented by one of my late tutors. Unfortunately, he died before he could share his findings. He did teach it to me however, and I have an idea about how to make it available to all that need it, but before I continued with my plans I wanted the opinion of someone that would be frank with me. When I met your children two days ago, I figured it would be the perfect opportunity because they are not so close to me that they would feel obligated to tone down what they really thought and it would also give me input from a werewolf that might benefit from my efforts."

Rolanda and her father shared an incredulous glance so Harry hurried to reassure them before they completely dismissed him.

"The potion has already been accepted by the Potion's Guild and has been approved by the ARPRC (Administration for the Regulation of Potion Remedies and Concoctions). All that's left is for my distributor's permit before I can begin. You are free to check the ministry's patent office if you wish. All related permits will also be available as public record."

"And just how much will you be charging for this potion exactly?" Rolanda asked somewhat dazed.

"The retail price stands at 18 galleons per dose." He ignored the twin yells of _what_! and continued calmly as if they hadn't said anything. "Payment is not required, however. I will accept donations of any kind. My goal is to find a cure as my tutor wished. I am not a Potions Master but my wife is and has already offered to help me find a cure for the curse."

The alpha spoke up once again. "And why exactly are you so determined to do all this?"

Harry smiled for the first time, if somewhat sadly and met the werewolf's eyes for the first time. "Because sometimes…what we do in life echoes in eternity (1)."

Footnotes:

1) This little part here at the end is a line from the movie _Gladiator (2000)_.

**

* * *

**

**Interlude** **2**

_March 7_

* Malfoy Manor 

Lucius was in his bedroom, gritting his teeth and trying not to cry out. He knew that should he do so, those stupid house-elfs would go running to his father with the story and he would only end up worse off. He had just returned from another one if his father's 'Endurance Training' sessions, which he hated. The only thing helping him get through them was the knowledge that he would finally be going to Hogwarts this year.

He hated having to endure so much pain just because his father was convinced Lucius will take over his place besides 'their' Lord. Lucius didn't even know who this supposed Dark Lord was; shouldn't he at least know who and what he was being groomed for?

His father had been extra cruel today as well. He had been in a foul mood ever since the 'true muggle-born' articles started. This past week the Prophet had even started publishing some 'muggle-borns'' full lineages after the Ministry had agreed to replace the standard Blood Lineage Parchment with the more expensive Goblin type. Many muggle-borns had demanded to be re-registered as half-bloods and to be given a copy of their _complete_ Lineage, declaring previous records as false and accessories to the obstruction of justice. Though no muggle-born has come forward declaring kinship to the Malfoys, Lucius was certain that it was due to fear of his father's reprisal than because he/she didn't actually exist. The Black, Parkinson, Nott, and Crabbe families were just as ancient or at least almost as ancient as the Malfoys and they'd all had 'muggle-born' kin turn up.

In addition, Abraxas had killed a couple of house-elfs in a rage when some families he had been courting for his Lord had turned down the offer. Though the Black and Nott families where undoubtedly Dark, they must have been in disagreement with enough of the Dark Lord's views to choose not to follow him.

Lucius understood completely.

He knew he was a Dark wizard. He loved the _feel_ of the Dark Arts and dark magic was so beautifully dangerous, it truly was for the select few that had the inclination for it. Unlike neutral and light magic, dark magic always had the potential to overwhelm you and in his opinion if you were weak-minded enough to lose yourself to it, then you deserved to live the rest of your life as a senseless addict. Though he was too young to practice true dark magic, his father had performed it in his presence enough times for him to recognize the feeling the magic produced in him, just being near it sent a pleasurable shiver down his spine.

Lucius knew he was not a weak-minded fool. He was being raised to be a leader, to think for himself and know his strengths and weaknesses. Before, he'd always believed that his father's ideals about purebloods and mudbloods were based on reason. It seemed logical for mudbloods to be magically and intellectually weak when they had no wizarding linage. It had seemed logical to think that the weaker the blood brought into a wizarding community the weaker that community would become.

However, this was not the case at all. All of the supposed muggle-borns that had come forward about their lineage had been descendants of squibs born to pureblood families. In fact, it seemed that the 'purer' the family the more squibs were born from that family. In addition, Lucius had never _personally_ met a mudblood.

The first and only mudblood he had ever met was Harry Potter, and he was nothing like what he had been taught to expect. Potter was neither magically weak nor ignorant of common courtesy and customs, and that one meeting had been enough to make him start thinking about all of his father's views. He started to doubt that Abraxas really knew what he was talking about.

Thus, he found himself doubting his judgment about this Dark Lord. If his father had been wrong about mudbloods, what else was he wrong about?

Still, he knew he had a part to play, and play it he will…but from now on he will be making up his own mind about things. He will not be following his father blindly any more…or the Dark Lord for that matter.

* Potter Manor

Harold Potter was frustrated.

It had been over a month and he was no nearer to his goal than when he started. He had left the Ministry the day of the inquiry feeling insulted, rejected, and determined. He had felt insulted because it was clear that Harry Potter had little to no respect for him or his lineage. He felt rejected because Harry had wanted nothing to do with him, _him,_ who was a renowned pillar for the light and a pureblood of considerable influence…But he was also determined that Harry Potter will come to accept his bloodlines and his guidance.

Harold didn't know how Harry had hidden his lineage from the Blood Lineage parchment and honestly, he didn't care. What mattered to him was that Harry had the Potter Mark, he had the blood of the Potters in his veins and it was Harold's duty to keep his family united and safe. He couldn't do that however, without knowing what his relatives were doing or how they were fairing. It bothered him that he knew next to nothing about someone that was part of his family, of his blood, and was finding it difficult to find a way to approach the matter.

He had learned about Harry's marriage by mere chance a few days before the inquiry, something he found absolutely intolerable. If he'd known about Harry he would have helped him find a suitable match much more appropriate for his age and power. Never would he have approved his marriage to Eileen Prince had he had any say in it. She was a divorced woman that was too old for him and already had a child, and though she came from a respectable enough pureblood family, she was still no match for Harry when it came to sheer magical power.

In addition, Harold could not find any record or even a hint of how Harry provided for his family. He could find no mention of a profession, business, or inheritance that could account for Harry's comfortable lifestyle. He had not failed to notice that while Harry's clothes had been understated and somber they've been of the highest quality, just like his wife's and stepson's.

The most frustrating thing of all was that after a month of relentless searching all he had to show for it was the possibility that Harry might live in Hogsmeade, but even that had yet to be confirmed. He knew Harry owned a house in that town but he had found no definite evidence that he actually lived there. No one reported to have seen Harry in or around Hogsmeade with any frequency or even at Diagon Alley for that matter. Few people remembered seeing anyone matching Harry's description and if they had, they had not remembered anything of importance.

He had even tried to bribe a Gringotts Goblin for information, but it would seem that Harry had managed to secure the protection of a high-ranking Goblin and other than the fact that Harry made his money through lawful means, Harold was unable to get much out of them no matter how generous or profitable his offers. Now, to make things even more intricate, Harry was turning the wizarding world on its ear without even trying. The only thing he could do was wait for someone else to find something about the 'true muggle-born' and follow up on it. He didn't have much faith in that course of action, but he had run out of ideas for the moment.

He knew, more than anyone, that trying to find Harry was like trying to catch a ghost…and definitely twice as challenging.

* Centaur Territory, Forbidden Forest

As Harry walked back home he thought about everything that he'd accomplished in two months. Not only did he finally feel at home in this reality but he'd also found happiness among his family and new friends.

His plans were also coming along much better than he'd ever imagined. In a way, it was rather pathetic how little effort made everything come together so much better than before. But perhaps that was the reason he was brought back: to make changes, to help Severus, and simply be happy.

For now, he was satisfied with what he had already accomplished and it was simply a matter of time before he would be able to see just how much he'd changed the future, hopefully for the better. Still, he knew he had a _long _way to go…but whatever end he might come to, he hoped that end did not come for a long time yet.

* * *

**PLEASE READ**: I have gotten a number of reviews asking if this is going to be a Severus/Harry Slash pairing and the answer is most definitely **YES**! Like I wrote in the summary: this is an _eventual_ SS/HP (No chan!); which means nothing slashy will happen while Severus is still a child. Hope this clears this up and thanks for reading.


	5. Chapter 13

**Important, Please Read: **_Don't skip the book excerpt at the end!_ I know it's long, and probably boring to some of you, but it contains vital information, including the answer to why Severus became a human-vampire in _this_ reality. A million thanks to everyone that reviewed and PMed me, reader feedback is always welcome and appreciated.

_**A Chance at Life**_

**Chapter 13: **Some Bubbles and New Friends

_March 9__th_

Harry Potter sighed and shifted from one foot to the other as he tried to conceal his exasperation. This meeting was not going as smoothly as he'd hoped and unfortunately, he was the main reason it was all going to hell in a hand basket.

"Honorable Luminary, please allow me to explain…" Harry began once again, trying to calm the leader of the centaurian council without offending anyone. Though both the alpha werewolf and the Luminary acted polite enough considering the circumstances, they were obviously ill at ease in each others presence; half an hour had already crawled by and they had barely been able to get past the initial introductions. Harry was only thankful that Charles and Kyle had listened to his request and had not taken out their wands, and that the Luminary had agreed to meet with them alone, instead of with the complete centaurian council as was customary. Well, as alone as one could be while in the middle of a small clearing surrounded by various centaur families less than sixty feet away, including Firenze's.

"Ally Potter, you have proven your worth beneath the stars and before our people. As you have protected our own, do you repudiate our right to protect you in return? Especially from those that we have witnessed approach you with violent intent? ...Do you truly expect us to allow such a threat to roam this forest…our land and our home, unchallenged?"

Kyle looked so bothered at that last question that Harry extended his aura soothingly to try and calm everyone before things got too out of hand. "I understand your position and I am proud to stand beside you as an equal…but please allow me to explain before you come to a final decision." He then looked at Charles and awaited his compliance before he began.

"First of all I would like to clear up the incident that took place two weeks ago. While it is true that Alpha Hooch acted somewhat violently towards me he didn't hurt me much and his hostility was only prompted when I was perceived as a threat to his son, Kyle."

"Your words imply that he had, at least initially, seen you as a non-threat; then why the sudden hostility afterward?" The Luminary inquired as he relaxed somewhat, though his face was still full of skepticism.

Harry shifted to a more comfortable stand as well and took a deep breath before he continued. The only thing he missed while amongst centaurs was the ability to sit. At least his companions' werewolf-strength lessened their discomfort as the meeting progressed, he wasn't as lucky. "As Kyle has already explained to me, when we first met in this very forest he came to believe that I was his chosen mate. Unfortunately, when he learned about my wife and stepson during our second meeting he reacted negatively, which caused his father, and alpha, to assault me believing I might have magically attacked his son in some obscure manner."

The Luminary then raised a hand in a halting gesture and was silent for a good ten minutes, thinking the explanation through before addressing the alpha. "You have not reached for your wand while here, moon-bound —"

Before the blond haired centaur could finish the question, Charles interrupted with a frown, "Moon-bound?"

"Yes….one of the many cursed to live under the domain of the moon: bound to its natural cycle. While Lycans are her _children:_ stronger, faster, and happiest under its glow; werewolves are cursed beings, enslaved to it from the very moment of their creation."

"Harry?" Kyle asked, feeling offended and confused. Harry moved to stand close to him in sympathy and wrapped his aura around him soothingly before addressing Charles, who was starting to growl in anger.

"Alpha Charles…He speaks the truth, he is not trying to insult you."

Charles let out another rumbling grow from deep in his chest. "Explain!"

"Charles…you are lucky… more than you realize perhaps. You have grown up among Lycans, magical beings that embrace their inner wolf and their connection to the moon. Because of it you have grown up embracing your own wolf: you are the wolf and the wolf is you. Your acceptance diminishes the pain of your transformations. Also, you have never felt the pain of being without a pack….Most werewolves are not so lucky."

"Almost six thousand years ago a witch mated with a Lycan. Due to the climate of the time like many such matings with magical beings, it was kept quite, with only immediate family learning of the union. Unfortunately, soon after, a Veela proclaimed the witch as her mate as well and tried to convince her to leave the Lycan for her, but the witch refused. In a rage, the Veela tried to kill the Lycan, but was unsuccessful and before she died from the injuries she had suffered she cursed the witch that had rejected her. No one knows the wording of the curse but what _is_ clear is that the next full moon the witch, who was pregnant at the time, changed into a ferocious wolf, never again able to attain human form….When she finally gave birth the child was born in wolf form, mad and unable to distinguish friend from foe. It is believed that the cursed witch died that very night and that the Lycan, unable to kill his own progeny, kept him locked up until a few years later when the mad werewolf escaped and attacked any witch or wizard that crossed his path."

"That's horrible…" Kyle, who had swiftly taken advantage of Harry's previous voluntary approach, whispered, as he squeezed Harry's waist and rubbed his cheek against Harry's hair. Harry cleared his throat and ignored the Luminary's arched eyebrow, feeling uncomfortable standing in another man's embrace but saying nothing since it was obvious Kyle needed the comfort and Harry _had_ been the one to make the misguided offer, so he continued as though nothing out of the ordinary was happening.

"Yes, it was. The mad werewolf was finally killed but by then the damage had been done. All of the ones that survived the werewolf's attack didn't know they had been infected and the next full moon the cycle repeated itself again, only this time it wasn't only one werewolf like before. With time, the werewolf population grew and they started to unite into packs, most likely because of instinct. Unlike the original werewolf however, they were like the werewolves of today, retaining a human body and their sanity for the majority of the lunar cycle, only taking wolf form during the full moon."

Charles, beginning to understand the implications of this information, asked, "How do you plan to find the cure to this curse with a potion then? Curses require a counter curse to be broken or it will simply run its intended course. A potion may reduce a curses' effect but it won't get rid of it completely, which is what your Wolvesbane does, isn't? It allows us to keep our sanity but we can still infect others while in our wolf form."

"You are correct… up to a point at least. It was my mentor's theory that the only reason that werewolves are alive today is because of the prejudice of the wizarding world… and I agree with him one hundred present. If the wizarding world hadn't driven the newly turned werewolves into hiding and shunned the help of the Lycan community, the curse would have ended before 'werewolves' could have ever come to existence."

Kyle then let Harry go reluctantly as his father motioned him closer to his side and Harry breathed a silent sigh of relief as Charles asked him to explain his reasoning. "Well, the proof exists in your very own daughter, Charles. Werewolves only give birth to werewolves if they mate with another werewolf. However, if like you, a werewolf mates with a witch their offspring will consistently be a Lycan. Fear and ignorance make matings like yours extremely rare and are hidden for obvious reason. Lycans, like almost all magical beings, keep to themselves and the wizarding world is too blind and set on their ways to reconsider their misguided beliefs."

For the first time in long while Harry stopped to think about the time he'd come from. Even Dumbledore, the so called leader of the light had been just as blind to the widespread prejudice that affected all magical beings. Harry didn't want for Severus to have to grow up and live in the future he'd come from. It would be stupid of him to save Severus from a life of servitude to a madman only to condemn him to one of persecution and hatred at the hands of the wizarding world. Though almost all vampires choose to leave the wizarding world, Severus was a potions master. He would not be happy living away from the only place in which his expertise is needed and appreciated.

And just like that the sheer magnitude of what he was doing suddenly hit him like a ton of bricks.

"Harry, are you all right? You're very pale and your scent…" Kyle trailed off as he placed the palm of his hand on Harry's forehead. Harry simply swallowed and gently pushed the overenthusiastic youth's hand away.

"I'm fine. I was simply thinking about my family."

"You're family? Is there something the matter with them? Do you require aid?" The Luminary inquired, concerned to see Harry so pale and unsettled.

"Are the wizards giving you trouble, kid? Are they bugging you about marrying an older woman or something? I know some people that can help you get rid of trouble makers and gossipmongers." Charles put in as well, smirking and popping his knuckles suggestively.

"Or is it because of all that true muggle-born business? A lot of muggle-borns are being harassed because of it. Is someone bothering you or your family or –?" Kyle asked, now trying to make sure that no illness marred Harry's scent, since Harry wouldn't allow him near enough again to verify that he really didn't have a fever.

Before Harry could explain what he had meant the Luminary stepped close, looking deeply into his eyes. "Has your failure to bond affected your family ties?"

Harry's mouth almost hit the forest floor at the question and he blushed hot enough to have made any Weasley proud… And to further compound his humiliation he could see the two curious werewolves looking at the centaur for an explanation, not completely sure of what the Luminary had implied with such a question.

To further cement the surrealism of the moment, Harry was then witness to a smirking centaur; something he'd never seen in his previous reality or even in this one. He quickly moved to stop what was sure to be an embarrassing revelation but only managed an uncharacteristic sputter as he failed to come up with a diplomatic way to get back on topic.

The centaur's smirk grew to a full blown grin as he ignored Harry's attempts and answered the now smiling pair, all three of them leaning in closer. "I was referring to the fact that Harry is still chaste. Among our people a bond is not complete until a pair copulates…. And of course, a mare usually expects a foal or two at some point in the near future."

The trio then turned back their attention to a still pink Harry and before he could even open his mouth again all three of them burst into roaring laughter, holding onto each other in their hilarity.

Harry sighed and moved to the side to wait them out. Though he was glad that his new friends had finally found a common interest and had gotten past forced civility... this was _not_ what he'd had in mind when he began these negotiations...

_March 20__th_

"What time are we expected there, Harry?" Eileen asked as they cleaned up the potion lab after finishing their second batch of Wolvesbane that week. Preparations were running smoothly and if everything continued as such, _The Princes Venture_ will be celebrating its grand opening by the end of the month.

"It's more like a picnic really, not like last time's dinner, so there is not set time. It is expected that we will arrive somewhere between one thirty and three though." Harry answered with an encouraging smile which was immediately returned. Their relationship had grown from the initial discomfort to a blooming friendship, which was made much easier by all the research time they spent in the potions lab. As a family, they also had their training time to both have some fun and learn to read each others movement while trying to evade random paint-attacks, most days ending their evening with laughter and a story or song for Severus, which Eileen also took part in.

As it was, it was past noon by the time they finished cleaning up the lab and made their way to their rooms for a shower, Eileen in the lead as Harry finished up some of their notes for the day. Their Wolvesbane production was on track and should be ready for when their apothecary opened, as soon as that was settled however, they, well mostly Eileen, would be able to concentrate exclusively on the Cure from then on. Harry had utmost faith in Eileen's skills and with time he knew that Severus' potions skills will surpass even those of his mother, with two Potions Masters working on this endeavor, finding the Cure was simply a matter of time.

The day went on as it usual does on a brewing day: they finished their brewing, worked a bit on some theory for the Cure and cleaned up after themselves with practiced ease. Everything going as usual….at least until they entered the hallway.

As they neared the bathroom Eileen started giggling and as Harry raised his gaze from his notes, he soon realized why. There was a very naked, very soapy looking Sev frantically trying to stop a torrent of bubbles currently escaping through the crevices of the closed bathroom door with an armful of towels. "MOM! Harry! I'm sorry! I was just testing the bubbler potion we made yesterday and I didn't notice my hand was slippery and it _all_ fell in the bathtub and I tried to catch it, really I did, honest! But then I couldn't and -"

Eileen just started sniggering and turned twinkling eyes to Harry. "Well, I'll just leave this little crisis to you, capable husband of mine…"

"Very funny, Eileen. You know as well as I do that we have to wait for it to stop on its own." Harry sighed as he took in Severus guilty countenance. He was almost completely sure that Severus used the whole potion on purpose, most likely trying to see if it worked like the book said it did. It wouldn't be the first time Sev tried to confirm or 'improve' a potion's function when left to his own devices. At least Noodle was going to be really happy to have something to clean up when he returned from visiting his family that evening.

Luckily, Eileen's room now featured her own private bathroom, an early birthday present from Harry and Severus, so that she would be able to 'girlify it to her heart's content' as Sev so cleverly put it. "Go with your mother to finish your bath, Severus. We will be going out to lunch and should be leaving in an hour or so."

Severus' guilt was immediately replaced with a frown of suspicion. "Where are we going? It's Saturday, you don't like going out on weekends." Which was unfortunately true. People still hadn't given up on finding the true muggle-born and Harold Potter's spies had been prowling around Hogsmeade even more than before; weekend crowds made it easier for them to blend into the throng and it was harder for Harry to use his gifts whilst among so many people.

As it was, Harry and Eileen exchanged knowing looks at Severus' question. After their initial meeting at the Hogshead, Harry had spent much of his time getting to know the Hoochs and tying to set up better relations between their pack and the Centaurs. A task which Severus greatly objected to, often stating that he hated Harry coming home stinking of wet dog whenever he happened to meet with Kyle. Nonetheless, considering how much time Harry had been spending with his pack, it wasn't long before Charles invited Harry and his family over for dinner, last Tuesday to be exact. But it hadn't exactly gone smoothly.

As time went on and Severus became more comfortable with his vampire characteristics he no longer bothered to keep them in check while at home, and since the Hoochs were mostly magical creatures themselves, he didn't bother to restrain himself while in their presence. Whereas Eileen and Xiomara were well on their way to becoming best friends, Kyle and Severus had hated each other on sight. It had been somewhat amusing to see an annoyed little Severus hissing and glaring at an equally unhappy Kyle who could do little more than reply with barely audible growls, but it still made Harry nervous for them to dislike each other so strongly when Harry felt so comfortable among them already.

Which is why Eileen and Harry had decided not to mention this second invitation until the last minute, knowing that Severus' negative reaction to the idea could become more than just a little unpleasant. For now, Harry was just about to remind Severus that he was standing in the middle of the hallway as naked as Adam to sidestep the question when Eileen took matters into her own hands, also recognizing the warning signs of an eminent tantrum. "Come with me, honey." She said calmly as she started pulling a wary Severus into her bedroom, easily ignoring her son's annoyed glare with aplomb.

Harry smiled gratefully at her and let out a small laugh when he heard the screeching objections of a livid prepubescent vampire a few minutes later.

HPSSHPSSHPSSHPSSHPSS

Severus was not happy. Not happy at all. And the reason for his unhappiness was currently standing in front of him, blatantly trying to steal an oblivious Harry from him. He knew, and everyone else there knew that he knew, what Kyle was up to, which is why it was so unbearably infuriating. It was insulting, not to mention nauseating, to see the mangy mongrel making cow eyes at Harry when Severus had _clearly_ already marked him as his own.

In truth, Severus had come to acknowledge that Harry was right and werewolves weren't mindless evil beasts, even if it had taken him a week to accept it. Still, the fact that one of them was actively trying to replace his scent mark had not exactly made him any more amiable to the idea. It wasn't until a week ago that he'd gotten to actually see the fool that thought himself worthy of being with his Harry, and he was every bit the idiot he'd imagined him to be. As it happened, the numbskull had pretended to accept his mother's claim on Harry and acted the perfect friend to both Harry and his mother.

Severus wasn't fooled however.

Harry was convinced that Kyle was too young to really know who his chosen mate should be, which meant that he ignored Severus' warnings and saw Kyle as simply a nice, if overly friendly, young man. Severus, along with the rest of the world it seemed, knew this wasn't the case at all. The little tramp used any excuse to be near Harry in order to leave as much of his scent around him as possible and everyone but Harry could see the mutt wanted Harry for himself, including Severus' mother. Unfortunately, his mother thought Harry's cluelessness and Kyle's 'crush' were _adorable_. Which is why he was currently surrounded by a gaggle of giggling females while his mother discreetly restrained him as they observed yet another of Kyle's attempts to have a few moments of Harry to himself.

As if Severus would ever allow such a thing to happen in his presence.

"Excuse me," he said politely enough before breaking away from his mother's clutches and walked determinedly to interfere with the mutt's transparent attempts at thievery. Harry turned around before he even reached them with a welcoming smile and Severus didn't try to smother his own grin; Harry didn't smile like that for anyone else, including the wimpy wolf taking up space next to them.

"Everything all right, Sev?" His Harry asked as he extended a welcoming arm, responding to Severus' silent request for contact. Severus' grin widened and he quickly took advantage of the invitation, pressing close to slowly rub his face on Harry's side and his right hand on Harry's belly while his left arm quickly surrounded as much of Harry's waist as he could.

"Anyway, before I forget. Our apothecary should be opening at the end of this month, a little earlier than we had expected." Harry said, calmly as always, as he returned to his conversation with a now dejected looking werewolf.

"You have finally collected enough rare potions ingredients then?" Kyle asked with ill concealed displeasure as Severus convinced Harry to sit down on the magically tended grass with him. This of course, gave him the perfect excuse to settle into his lap and consequently allowed him to rub his face into Harry's neck letting out a low hum of contentment.

"Don't you mind him rubbing himself all over you in front of other people?"

Severus growled warningly at the werewolf before looking up to see Harry's reply. The jealous twit actually had the gall to ask that when he'd practically done the same thing; not to mention that unlike Severus, he had absolutely no right to do it in the first place!

To Severus' happiness however, Harry did not look at all that pleased with the question. In fact, he even hugged him closer to his chest with both arms instead of the loose one armed hold he'd originally had on him. "You're a werewolf Kyle, and everyone here knows that Severus is a vampire. There is no reason to deny him when I've seen your family acting in similar fashion before." He looked away from Kyle for a moment to give Severus a knowing grin. "He knows Eileen and I are his, he's simply making sure everyone else here knows that too."

Severus felt his heart flutter as their eyes met and for some unfathomable reason suddenly felt like crying and smiling at the same time. Aside from his mother, Severus had never loved anyone else and though he cared for Noodle and Kura, what he felt for them paled in comparison to what he felt for Harry. He didn't feel exactly rational when it came to his green-eyed protector, his feelings simply didn't react the same way they did with everyone else, like right now. If there was one thing he feared it was for someone to take Harry away from him and he wasn't about to let anyone, especially a poaching werewolf, to take Harry away from him.

"Well, well, what do we have here? Did you get stuck playing babysitter, kid?" Charles interrupted Severus musings with a light tone, something he was silently thankful for…before he lost his cool and tried to scratch his idiot-son's eyes out. For some reason, Kyle just made him forget himself even at the best of times and when he tried to stick his snout into Severus' territory it just made everything a hundred times worse.

Surprisingly enough, Kyle's family wasn't all that bad. Charles was a tall, robust man about 6'4 with sharp facial features, golden eyes and long blue-black hair. He was pretty easy going and Severus didn't really find anything wrong with him, other than the fact that he liked to poke fun at Harry's teenage looks, thus calling him kid all the time instead of by his name. His wife, Xiomara, was very short in comparison, only about 5 feet tall and shared her looks and coloring with her daughter. Both of them had friendly open faces, gentle features (though Rolanda's were slightly sharper), and the same unique gray colored hair. Their main difference was in their eyes, Rolanda having her father's golden eyes while Xiomara had bright blue eyes.

Charles gave Harry the plate of food he'd been holding and didn't take it back after he sat down. Ignoring the fact that everyone had alalready finished eating by now; he made it clear that he'd brought it for Harry. But of course, Harry was too polite to refuse and simply nodded though Severus knew that he wasn't going to eat anymore. "You need fattening up, pup. You might look more like a grown man if you didn't look like a half starved bowtruckle."

Severus opened his mouth to protest, indignant at the insult, but Harry beat him to the punch and had him hold the plate as he said, "I assure you, I have a healthy appetite and I eat probably as much as any werewolf….However…It doesn't matter how much I eat, my physique won't be changing any time soon."

"Oh?" Charles said taking a quick glance at their uneven, circle-like arrangement of the four of them, and then returned to look at Harry with none of his usual good humor. "…..Is there anything I should know, Harry?"

"No. I'm a little different than most men, but there is nothing about me that would be a danger to you or your pack. You have my word." Severus watched Charles' slow nod of acceptance with relief. He knew Harry didn't want to share his past, he'd barely shared it with his mother and him, and even then, it had only been to answer their specific questions.

"Now, what where you saying about your store…?"

"Oh, yes, I was telling Kyle that it will be opening earlier than scheduled. So, I wanted to ask if any of you knew of anyone knowledgeable about potions and/or potion ingredients. Although my wife has agreed to manage the store, most of her time will still be devoted to finding The Cure and brewing the Wolvesbane Potion. We both agreed that she should have two full time workers as well as another two or three part-timers. I was kind of hoping that you could get the word out to any werewolves that qualified."

As the adults continued to talk about possible candidates Severus thought about their plans for the store. Though officially their store was classified as just a specialized apothecary, in truth its main purpose was to distribute the Wolvesbane to any werewolf that requested it. Severus thought it stupid not to demand any sort of payment for the Potion but since the potions ingredients the store will be selling were all of the expensive variety, Harry thought the profit from their sales would most likely cover the cost of the ingredients. After all, the Wolvesbane Potion only used moderately expensive ingredients; it is the complexity of the brewing that actually dictated its value. Even his mother, who could brew some of the most difficult potions known to the wizarding world, had trouble with this potion to begin with and it was only because of Harry's help that she managed to master it.

Regardless of how much Harry might say he wasn't a potions master his knowledge of the art was no meager thing. It was accurate to say that he didn't have the passion and instinct necessary to be a true potions master but what he _did_ know he knew inside and out; and unlike his mother, Severus thought that Harry would have made a wonderful potions professor, if his efforts guiding his mother were any indication. If there was one thing Eileen Prince hated, it was to be told how to brew a potion that she was not familiar with, the fact that they had both emerged from the potions lab alive and unharmed spoke volumes of Harry's fortitude as an instructor.

For now, Harry didn't show any interest in becoming an educator, he seemed happy collecting rare potions ingredients and placing his wagers. Therefore, for now, his main goal was to keep Kyle as far away from Harry as possible. Well that and trying to develop Harry's sense of self preservation and awareness. His obliviousness had to be dealt with before that mongrel managed to get his dirty claws on him.

Severus bared his fangs at the werewolf in a silent hiss. Oblivious or not, Harry wasn't alone anymore; Harry was his to keep…his to care for…and his to protect…for now and for always….and no love-sick fool was going to get in his way.

* * *

Excerpt from _Vampires_ by Countdra McKula

Vampire Basics:

True-Vampires: 100% Vampire genes

Vampires & Human-Vampires: 99%- 75% Vampire genes

Vampire Designations:

Head

Mate

Offspring

Sire

Child

Rogue

Sucio[1]

Almost everything the average witch or wizard 'know' of Vampires is exaggerated, inaccurate, or simply pure fantasy…Almost every misconception known to the Wizarding world is a result of negative 13th century propaganda. Though such false impressions were never proven even slightly accurate, the silent separation of the Vampire Nation from the Wizarding World allowed for certain myths to take root in wizarding society without interference ….

There are 3 types of Vampires in existence today, however, before the 15th century only True-Vampires and Vampires existed. The majority of the Vampire population falls under the 'Vampire' classification due to the fact that if a True-Vampire mated with a Witch (as the case usually was) their Offspring only had a 10% chance of being born a True-Vampire[2] (100% Vampire genes)…Nowadays, estimates place the Vampire (type) population to be making up somewhere between 78-88 percent of the Vampire Nation, the remaining percentage being True-Vampires and Human-Vampires. Because the term Vampire is used for all types of Vampires few people realize that there is more than one type of Vampire in existence. In reality there are probably less than 10 True-Vampires left in the world; this of course, a direct result of "The Great Extermination" which will be elaborated on at a later point. Although virtually all Vampires live in secluded family groups or communities, most True-Vampires become family Heads, their age and experience automatically making them their family's patriarch/matriarch. The overall current British Vampire (generic term) population is estimated to be anywhere from 500 to 1,000 Vampires but an exact number is indeterminable due to their secretive tendencies.

Contrary to popular belief Vampires are not Dark Creatures driven by bloodlust, trying to Turn any magical being they run into. In truth, they are very emotionally vulnerable beings and require family ties in order to maintain mental stability. Because Vampires are such secretive and protective beings, most in the Wizarding World live and die without ever seeing a _sane_ Vampire. The Vampires encountered by the wizarding world (and to which most misconceptions are attributed to) are Rogue Vampires that have been consumed by insanity and bloodlust. The most common cause for this phenomenon is grief due to the loss of Mate or family. The other two possibilities are: 1) to be a newly Turned[3] Vampire without a Sire[4] or 2) to have been rejected by their Mate; but these last two circumstances are atypical and extremely rare….

…The nuclear Vampire family is made up of the Head, the Mate, and the Offspring. Vampire family groups include the Head (usually a True-Vampire in the UK), his/her Mate (who could also be a True-Vampire but usually not), their Offspring, and any extended family joined by blood or mating. A mated pair's biological issue is known as an Offspring in order to differentiate from a Vampire's 'Child.' A Child is a once magical human that has been Turned by a Vampire, a very rare occurrence.[5] Among Vampire families this terminology (Head, Mate, etc.) is used as a sign of respect due to the intricate hierarchy at work within family groups, but they don't make such differentiations outside the home which is why all types of Vampires are simply known as Vampires in general. Vampires only tend to use idiosyncratic terminology among family members and when it is required, such as in formal introductions and/or gatherings. The reason no Vampire ever talks about what type of Vampire anyone is, is because such information requires no vocalization, as the status of any Vampire is distinguishable by scent. Still, in Vampire society such identifications are essential in order to respect family ties and anticipate future developments that might affect their communities or even the Vampire Nation as a whole…

…Before "The Great Extermination" the Vampire community of Britain and Scotland was a thriving and very extensive one, their numbers reaching upwards of 8,000 members. All of this changed with "The Great Extermination" that took place from the end of the 12th century to the beginning of the 14th century. It was begun as a movement[6] by a small number of Wizards wanting to reclassify the Vampire as an animal in order to make it available for study, believing that Vampires held the key to eternal life. The movement failed due to Vampires holding prominent Ministry positions but as a result, the movement changed to support a new purpose. When their initial plan proved unsuccessful, Movement wizards changed their objective in resentment, seeking revenge; they modified the movement to promote the idea that Vampires were Dark Creatures and abominations of the natural world and as such, should be exterminated for the betterment of the Wizarding World. At the beginning, their ideas and suggestive propaganda were ignored …until members of the Movement began a discreet, cruel, and systematic extermination of Mates mated to Vampires of high political standing. The more Vampires went insane as more and more Mates were assassinated, the more the movement gained momentum until it became common practice to kill Vampires on sight starting somewhere around the 1220s; thus facilitating the full breakdown of many Vampire communities and the fragmentation of all Vampire families in one way or another….

…More than 85% of the Vampire population had been exterminated by the end of the 13th century until the genocide was finally stopped by Maxus Sang (Minister of Magic, 1298-1318)[7]. He was a Vampire that hid his vampirism and manipulated the Ministry by removing all Movement supporters from positions of power. "The Great Extermination," as it came to be called, was finally officially ended in the year 1315, but by then the Vampire Nation had been irrevocably changed...

…The Vampires no longer trusted the Ministry to look after their welfare and demanded a separation of interests. From then on, Vampires were to be the exclusive responsibility of the Vampire Nation. Only Rogues and Vampires proven of suspected of criminal activity within the Wizarding World could be apprehended by the Ministry. Their trial and all other legal procedures however, were to be handled by their individual Vampire clans/communities. Only Vampires held by the Ministry for more than a month without being claimed by a Vampiric representative could by tried and sentenced by the Ministry of Magic. Violation of these laws is an automatic life-time sentence in Azkaban, even to this day, though very few actually remember these laws at the present time….

This period of persecution resulted in many changes for the Vampire Nation…Before the Great Extermination all pairings were heterosexual. However, due to the massive extermination of Mates, many Vampires born during that period underwent a defensive physiological-magical mutation: their mates were all male[8]. For these pairs, the mating process came with an added change. After the Mate had gone through the mating process (which included the turning) they became capable of bearing children. Thus at present, Mates can be either male or female and both are capable of bearing offspring. Nothing changed in the case of female Vampires, their mates are still always male….Vampire fertility still remains the same however; on average, Vampire mates can only have one Offspring every 500-1,000 years. Which is why most Vampires usually only have one Offspring; with twin pregnancies[9] always resulting in death for both the Bearer and the Offspring. Though Vampires by nature are very possessive and protective, "The Great Extermination" pushed these instincts to even greater heights, which is why over 98% of the Vampire population choose to live in isolation and avoids contact with the Wizarding World at all costs. Most Vampires only come into the Wizarding World to find their Mates if they are not found to be among the Vampire Nation. In most cases Vampires find and court their Mates without Ministry interference or even any awareness of their presence. The courting process is facilitated by the Vampire Allure, though such allure only works on their Mates. On an interesting note, if the Mate takes longer than a year to consent, the Allure intensifies until the mating takes place, which is why Vampire courtships has never lasted more than 14 months…

Another change… since "The Great Extermination" is the emergence of a new kind of Vampire. Many Vampires were captured and experimented on during the 13th century. Potion Master and Alchemist Kegee Mengele in particular, used many Vampires in interbreeding experiments, trying to create the perfect Human-Vampire-hybrid. He was eventually caught by the Ministry of Magic and sentenced to the Kiss. The reason however, was not because he was experimenting with Vampires, but rather because the witches being used in his breeding experiments were unaware of their involvement. (Mengele was an expert Obliviator and he chose his subjects with extreme care in order to avoid suspicion.) No one ever found Mengele's complete research notes and therefore no one knew for sure how many witches, or which ones, had been used in his experiments…. Because no children were born with Vampire characteristics in the next 200 years, it was believed that Mengele's experiments had been a complete failure. His work however, was not as unsuccessful as had been previously assessed…The Vampire gene had been assimilated into the witches' own biological and magical makeup, and it had been passed onto their progeny in a dormant state.

The first Human-Vampire was actually born in the year1476. Human-Vampires are completely human to all outward appearances until their Vampire genes somehow become active sometime between their 8th-10th birthday. Unlike True-Vampires, who are virtually immortal, Human-Vampires are closer to Vampires in abilities; the main difference is their lifespan, which is believed to be around the vicinity of about 1,000 years. The average Vampire lives around 2,000 years and no True-Vampire has ever died of natural causes. The oldest known True-Vampire is still alive and quite healthy at 3,982 years of age. On a side note, it has been discovered that unlike other Vampires, Human-Vampires only come to be if their mates are born before they reach their 10th birthday. In other words, regardless of how many dormant vampire genes a witch or wizard is born with, if their mate is not born by the time they reach their 10th birthday (or are still alive once they turn 8) their genes will never activate and will simply pass on in their dormant state to their descendants once again…

…Like all Vampires, Human-Vampires are nocturnal beings (sunlight is not fatal, simply disliked) and have enhanced senses and very rapid regenerative qualities. They have the Allure like other Vampires and it is only rendered ineffective if the Mate is another Vampire, but then it is irrelevant because they both have the same mating instincts. Basically, the Allure is there to facilitate mating for those that have non-Vampire Mates[10]. Though born in the Wizarding World, Human-Vampires tend to isolate themselves with their Mates once they find them and begin their own families. Sometimes thought, they choose to join the clan of whichever Vampire (generic term) they are descendants of (if any ancestral family member is still alive). This is an option that is available to all Human-Vampires due to the invention of "Blood-Linage," though invented for maternity/paternity verifications when crucial to settling inheritance disputes, it has become an important tool for Human-Vampires wishing to know more of their Vampire blood-lines…as well as other Ministry procedures….

…All Vampires reach maturity at the age of 15 (when they are able to find their mate), but they don't stop aging until their 30th birthday. Like with witches and wizards, magical capability and power varies with individual. They all reach their maximum power by the time they are 20, though some, the most powerful, can reach their full magical potential by their 18th birthday….

**Footnotes**:  
[1.] Word used for Vampires that have been banished from the Vampire Nation due to unpardonable offenses; also a very vulgar insult meaning dirty, it insinuates that they are not worthy of their Vampire lineage.  
[2.] Only True-Vampires are born with retractable blood-fangs, Vampires are born toothless and don't grow blood-fangs until after their 3rd birthday.  
[3.] Turning is the term used for the process in which a witch or wizard accepts to be, and is, 'turned' into a Vampire by another Vampire. The one turned is the Child, the one doing the turning is the Sire.  
[4.] The abandonment of a newly Turned Child by their Sire is an automatic death sentence for both the Sire and the Child in Vampire society.  
[5.] Children are so rare that there usually are less than 5 at any one time in the world. Also, while Mates are technically Turned if they are not already a Vampire, they are not considered 'Turned' Vampires. Only Children are considered Turned Vampires because they are seen as complete outsiders to the Vampire Nation. It is impossible to Turn someone without their consent and muggles cannot be Turned because they lack the magical pathways required to sustain the physiological modifications needed for the transformation.  
[6.] There is no official record, nor does any Vampire now live that remembers the name of the original group. "The Movement" is the reference found in _The_ _Vampire Chronicles_.  
[7.] This claim is based upon _The Vampire Chronicles._ Wizarding Historical Records from that time period are omitted, missing, or incomplete, and therefore could not be used to either support or negate this claim.  
[8.] It is believed that because Vampires have a strong predisposition to being born male and by extension having a majority of female-Mates, having male-Mates capable of bearing children was a defensive mechanism to the preservation of their kind. Since male-Mates could be hidden more effectively, it became one of the most guarded secrets of the Vampire race and to this day there are very few in the Wizarding community that know this fact.  
[9.] Due to the fast regenerative properties inherent to the Vampire race, abortions are an impossibility and no Vampire would ever think of terminating a pregnancy, Vampire instinct does not allow it! (CM)  
[10.] Though it is taken as a given that the Allure will work on all non-Vampire Mates, _The_ _Vampire Chronicles, _in its expanse all the way back to 295 BCE, show that the possibility of immunity exists; it contains record of two human-Mates completely immune to the Allure. Unquestionably, this capability is an extreme rarity.


End file.
